Certified Peer Specialist project
continuing education
After successful completion of the CPS examination, a CPS is required to have a minimum of 12 continuing education units (CEUs) per calendar year and 6 CEUs MUST come from a GMHCN sponsored training, webinar, workshop or conference. The time frame for the beginning acquisition of CEUs is the year following the year in which the CPS passed the certification exam. CEUs must be submitted via online portal.
For example: If a CPS passed the certification exam at any time in 2022, CEUs begin accruing in January 2023. Twelve CEUs must be acquired by December 31, 2023. The cycle will then repeat, beginning in January 2024. Additional CEUs over the required 12 hours are not transferable to the following year.
There are many opportunities to obtain CEUs through workshops, webinars, and conferences.
Some of the opportunities are listed below. Please be aware that the dates shown are tentative and subject to change as needed.
Certification Verification for Employers
Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network (GMHCN) is committed to upholding the professional standards set forth by the State of Georgia and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, pertaining to the credentialing and recertification process for Certified Peer Specialist Mental Health. In order to create a more efficient processing method pertaining to CEU verifications and CPS certification, please review our verification and fee policy.
GMHCN Summer Conference (offered annually)
Plans for the 2025 ANNUAL CONFERENCE are underway in anticipation of an in-person event but seating will be limited. Please consider utilizing online trainings to fulfill your continuing education requirements for 2025.
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Opportunity for CEU Training hours offered annually by attending keynotes and workshops at the conference.
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Advance conference registration is required. Keynote presentations are available to all participants; workshop availability is on a first-come; first-served basis.
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Check lists and signature sheets for attending keynotes and workshops may be picked up throughout the conference.
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Signature sheets may be turned in to CPS Project staff on the last day of the conference or mailed, emailed, or faxed into the GMHCN offices thereafter.
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Due to the high volume of participants, physical certificates copies are mailed out by request only.
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For more information and updates, please visit the www.gmhcn.org website.
Whole Health Action Management (WHAM) Training
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Complete your WHAM Training to become a certified Wellness Coaching and receive 12 CEUs.
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Please check the www.gmhcn.org website for updates, trainings, and locations.
RESPECT Institute
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3 and ½ day training to develop your recovery story for presentation in public venues.
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Completion of Respect Institute provided 18 hours of CEUs.
Trainings:
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Intentional Peer Support
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Trauma Informed Peer Support
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WRAP
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Peer Zone
Webinars (CEU credits are granted based on hour equivalencies):
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Content must be recovery-oriented and strengths-based.
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All webinar announcements posted below are eligible for CEUs.
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Relias Online Learning Modules can also receive CEU credit. (Review and prior approval of specific modules is required. Not all modules are eligible to receive credit.) Relias may require a paid membership/subscription in order to receive CEU certificates.
Other CPS Trainings and Certifications with CEU Credit:
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CPS-AD (aka CARES) Certification (For more information click here.)
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CPS-P (Parent) Certification (For more information click here.)
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CPS-Y (Youth) Certification (For more information click here.)
Online Resources/Webinars:
Certified Peer Specialists can also attend webinars and receive CEUs from a range of national websites. CEUs for webinars are hour equivalencies - e.g. - 1 hour = 1 CEU; 1.5 hours=1.5 CEUs.
Acceptable webinars must be recovery oriented, which means that they focus on topics of wellness, holistic approaches to recovery, strengths-based perspectives, community resource linking, person-centered treatment, and so forth. Unacceptable webinars include those that focus on strictly clinical topics such as the DSM-5, diagnosis, clinical assessments, psychiatric treatment modalities, etc..
Some organizations the frequently provide CEU opportunities that are recovery-oriented include:
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Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
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National Association for Rights Protection & Advocacy (NARPA)
Please note that not all webinars on these websites meet the above criteria. Please review the webinar content prior to participating, and verify that it meets the CPS Project criteria. Please contact the CPS Project at ceu@gmhcn.org with any questions.
If you are also a CPS-AD (CARES), you may receive CEU credit from your CARES training and CARES Connect.
In general, to attend a webinar, you sign up with your email and attend on the time and date indicated. Once the webinar is complete, you should receive either a "thank you for attending" email, an actual certificate, or both. Either will have to show the total number of CEUs earned or the total number of HOURS attended. It will also require the name of the webinar or training, the presenter, dates, times and topic. Please call the CEU department for more information.
Submitting CEU Documentation and Maintaining Active Certification
All Certified Peer Specialist- Mental Health, are required to submit 12 CEUs to recertify their credential. Out of the 12 CEUs, 6 CEUs must come from a GMHCN specific training, webinar and or conference and all CPS-MH must have at least one ethics training annually. Please submit all CEU documentation through the online portal. click here to submit your documentation online.
Trainings from other vendors or sponsoring agencies, not listed on this page, must be approved by the CEU coordinator and the Chief Training Officer. Please submit training from outside vendors for approval through our CEU Approval Request Portal
CPSs may submit documentation for CEUs in any given year up through January 15th of the following year without having to pay a late fee. (for example, documentation of CEUs received in 2022 must be received by GMHCN no later than January 15 of 2023). Any CPS who has not provided required annual documentation by February 28th will go into an “inactive” status. To learn more about the recertification process, please read our Recertification Policy.
GMHCN and other providers of Georgia Certified Peer Specialist trainings are required to report the Active/Inactive status of CPSs to the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities.
IMPORTANT FOR ALL CERTIFIED PEER SPECIALISTS
Georgia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, the agency that provides funding for the Certified Peer Specialist Project, is creating a database of all Certified Peer Specialists across the state, and they have asked us to provide them with updated information for all Certified Peer Specialists, including date of birth. Depending on when you completed your training and certification, the Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network may not have your date of birth and current contact information (including mailing address and working phone number) on file.
It is very important that we be able to provide DBHDD this information as soon as possible. Please click here to update your CPS information, including your date of birth, at your earliest convenience.