The Maryland Addiction and Behavioral-health Professional Certification Board (MABPCB)

require all peers (people who identify as being in recovery from SUD) to obtain at least 46 hours of approved trainings across four domains (Advocacy, Ethics, Mentoring & Education, Recovery & Wellness) to qualify for the Certified Peer Recovery Specialist (CPRS) examination.

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Appalachian Recovery Concepts offers a series of five courses which meet these requirements by providing the necessary training hours across all domains. Peers completing this 5-course curriculum will not only meet pre-requisite training requirements for the CPRS exam, they will also receive opportunities to earn 25 peer supervision hours as required by the MABPCB.

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Peer Training Curriculum: 

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Mental Health First Aid (MHFA)

2-hour self-paced pre-work followed by a 5.5-hour virtual synchronous workshop​

Mental Health First Aid teaches you how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance use disorders. This 8-hour training gives you the skills you need to reach out and provide initial support to someone who may be developing a mental health or substance use problem and helpconnect them to the appropriate care.

 

Learning Objectives

• Common signs and symptoms of mental illness.

• Common signs and symptoms of substance use.

• How to interact with a person in crisis.

• How to connect the person with help.

 

Guide to Harm Reduction (GHR)

1.5-hours virtual synchronous workshop

Harm reduction incorporates a spectrum of evidence-based and evidence-informed strategies from safer use, to managed use, to abstinence to meet drug users “where they’re at,” addressing conditions of use along with the use itself.

 

Learning Objectives

• Define harm reduction as it is used in engaging people who use drugs into services and support.

• The benefits of harm reduction for the individual and/or the community.

• The history of harm reduction and its connection to structural inequalities and racism and where it fits in to SUD treatment and recovery

• Identify the principles and philosophy of harm reduction and examples of harm reduction tools andservices.

• Recognize an effective Harm Reduction practice in contrast to a practice which does not applyharm reduction.

 

Social Determinants of Health (SDOH)

6-hour virtual synchronous workshop

The social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, learn, worship, play, and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life. “These circumstances are shaped by the distribution of money, power, and resources at the global, national, and local levels.”

(WHO, 2019)

 

Learning Objectives

• Define and identify the social determinants of health

• Understand how current US drug policy undermine social determinants of health

• Understand the role of the social determinants of health in the overdose crisis

  • Analyze how harm reduction strategies address the social determinants of at an individuallevel which improves community outcomes

 

Stages of Change (SOC)

3-hour virtual synchronous workshop

The Transtheoretical Model (also called the Stages of Change Model), developed by Prochaska and DiClemente in the late 1970s, evolved through studies examining the experiences of smokers who quit on their own with those requiring further treatment to understand why some people were capable of quitting on their own. It was determined that people quit smoking if they were ready to do so. Thus, the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) focuses on the decision-making of the individual and is a model of intentional change. The TTM operates on the assumption that people do not change behaviors quickly and decisively. Rather, change in behavior, especially habitual behavior, occurs continuously through a cyclical process. The TTM is not a theory but amodel; different behavioral theories and constructs can be applied to various stages of the model where theymay be most effective.

 

Learning Objectives​

• Understand the burden of change

• Understanding how behavior change happens

  • Understand how harm reduction strategies keep people safe, build self-efficacy, and supportthe change process

  • Learn how to support people through the process of change

 

CCAR Recovery Coach Academy (CCAR RCA)

5-day/30-hour workshop (4-hrs per day virtual synchronous followed by independent study

The CCAR Recovery Coach Academy© is a 5-day intensive training focusing on providing individuals with the skills need to guide, mentor and support anyone who would like to enter into or sustain long-term recovery from an addiction to alcohol or other drugs. The CCAR Recovery Coach Academy© prepares participants by helping them to actively listen, ask really good questions, and discover and manage their own stuff!

 

Learning Objectives

• Describe the roles and functions of a recovery coach

  • List the components, core values & guiding principles of recovery

  • Build skills to enhance relationships

  • Explore many dimensions of recovery & recovery coaching

  • Discover attitudes about self-disclosure & sharing your story

  • Understand the stages of recovery

  • Describe stages of change and their applications

  • Increase awareness of culture, power & privilege

  • Address ethical & boundary issues

  • Experience recovery wellness planning

  • Practice newly acquired skills

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**Peer CEU’s provided by AHEC West, authorized by the Maryland Addiction & Behavioral HealthProfessionals Certification Board (MABPCB)

 

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