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Certification - Peer Mentoring - CEUs - Peer Support Jobs
Additional information about Montana state certification is available from the Board of Behavioral Health.
Click here to access forms related to CBHPSS Certification and Licensing.
To apply for certification, you must:
- Complete a 40 hour peer support education program. The program must include an exam and verification must be sent to the Board by the training provider. You can get your training from MPN. Find Your Trail to Certification.
- Submit the Supervisor Agreement and Supervision Plan.
- Attest that you have a behavioral health disorder.
- 2 years in recovery with no hospitalizations or incarcerations.
- Submit a Legal and Health History Content Form
- Provide a narrative that outlines the recovery program from the behavior health disorder.
- Complete the fingerprint/background check process (includes a fee of $27.25 to the Montana Department of Justice).
- Pay a licensure fee of $125.
Certification must be renewed yearly and expire on December 31 each year.
Renewal requirements:
- Complete 20 hours of continuing education and submit proof of completion. (May be less if certifying after July 1.)
- Maintain clinical supervision documentation.
- Attest to continued recovery (no periods of incarceration, hospitalization, or inpatient admission related to behavioral health disorder).
- Pay licensure fee.
It can be advantageous to carry individual professional liability insurance, especially if you are working independently instead of as part of an organization. The National Association for Addiction Professionals (NAADAC.org) offers a discounted rate for individual professional liability insurance plans. NAADAC members are able to access insurance that is offered through American Professional Agency, Inc. (Memebrship in NAADAC is $94.00 a year, with additional discounts for students and retired and military individuals.) Insurance rates start at $32 and increase depending on the amount of coverage. You can call American Professional Agency, Inc. by phone at 1-800-421-6694 x 2265 or email at mentalhealth@americanprofessional.com. NAADAC.org includes the program highlights of the CBHPSS coverage. You can also apply for the insurance right from the website. It is easy to navigate. It is a great way to invest in yourself and the recovery movement and increase your professionalism!
A person must be certified by a VA approved peer support certification not-for-profit organization or a state approved certification organization.
It is important to remember that just meeting a state’s certification training requirement without also having the state peer specialist certification is insufficient to be approved for VA. The law says must be certified by –
- a not-for-profit entity engaged in peer specialist training as having met such criteria as the Secretary shall establish for a peer specialist position; or
- a State as having satisfied relevant State requirements for a peer specialist position.
Also, if a peer specialist is certified by a state entity, if that state requires periodic recertification, the peer specialist must comply with that requirement and have documentation that they are current with their certification. Not maintaining certification could result in a change of duty assignment to non-patient care or loss of position. Montana’s Peer Network’s PS 101 course is approved by the VA and the state for certification purposes.
Peer Mentoring
Mentoring programs are used by 70% of Fortune 500 companies and about a quarter of smaller companies. Mentoring benefits the mentor, mentee, and the organization as a whole. Studies show that mentoring programs improve diversity of organizations, increase employee retention and satisfaction, and improve organizational environment. Below are just a few benefits of mentoring.

Continuing Education Units (CEUs)
MPN offers various training opportunities for people looking to become Peer Recovery Coaches or Certified Behavioral Heath Peer Support Specialists. We also offer an array of trainings eligible for Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for CBHPSS.
Peer Support Jobs
Montana’s Peer Network does not necessarily endorse any jobs listed. The information is provided to help our members find positions.
If you would like us to post a job announcement, please email Andi.
Peer Support Specialists
Peer Support Specialist provides community-based peer support services that are designed to promote the recovery, empowerment, and community integration of individuals who have severe and chronic behavioral health challenges. Will facilitate opportunities for individuals receiving service to direct their own recovery and advocacy process, by teaching and supporting individuals. Promoting the knowledge of available service options and choices of natural resources in the community and help facilitate the development of a sense of wellness and self-worth.
Havre - Great Falls - Great Falls PACT - Kalispell - Helena PACT
Behavioral Health Peer Support Specialist-Certified
This flexible position functions as a core member of the Meadowlark outreach team that involves the Home Visiting Care Coordinator and the local One Health primary care provider, licensed addiction counselor, nurse care manager and, when available, other mental health providers in the primary care clinic. The Peer Support Specialist (PSS) is responsible for providing and coordinating warm handoffs and mentoring to patients or potential patient families who are expecting or have children up to age two (2), who are impacted by SUD (substance use disorder) and in need of behavioral health services. The PSS also provides experience-based input to guide the implementation of the strategic plan for recruiting participating families to the Sacred Families Program according to the community’s unique needs.
A successful Peer Support Specialist has life experience in persistent mental illness and has participated in mental health services that led to recovery or rehabilitation. This position holds a special role on the team and in the eyes of the clients, providing supportive services to clients with severe to moderate mental illness, or co-occurring disorders. We offer various settings for a Peer Support Specialist to work in to include foster care and group home settings as well as PACT/MACT team settings which is a multi-disciplinary team providing wraparound services.

Peer Support Specialist-Billings
Uses personal experience with behavior health diagnosis disorder to provide support, mentoring, guidance, and advocacy. Offers hope to individuals struggling with substance abuse/behavioral health disorders. Promotes a team culture in which they recognize, understand, and respect individual preferences and points of view and ensures that they are integrated into the treatment, rehabilitation and community self-help activities. Assists individuals in a variety of ways, including problem solving, mediation, brief respite, community stabilization and relapse prevention. The Peer Specialist provides emotional support to participants to assist their maintenance in the least restrictive setting and to enhance self-sufficiency skills. Provides transportation related to outings and resource connection. Communicates emotional and behavioral observations to the treatment team and completes record keeping functions.
Peer Support Pulse Blog
Be the Change
I can remember many times walking past a person experiencing homelessness. The thoughts that came to mind brought feelings of shame. Something inside me wanted to give to them, but I was taught they were dangerous, morally defective, and fully capable of making money if they wanted to. As time passed, I stopped looking at “them” but could never shake the feeling that something was amiss with my actions or lack thereof. The poverty around me made me wonder what kind of person I am to pass community members experiencing homelessness. Yet, I was going home, deciding which show to watch, Seinfeld or Friends.
Volunteering
When we are not well, we don’t have the opportunity to get to know ourselves. We are consumed by our own darkness. Once we begin the journey of recovery the light begins to find its way in and we often begin to ask, who am I. What do I like? What do I want to do with my time, my life? We may find we need to let go of friends we hung out with. We may find we have lots of extra time to fill but unsure how to fill it. This is where I encourage the idea of volunteerism.
Service Work and Volunteering is Sacred
For most of my life, I didn’t put much time and effort into things unless it was self-fulfilling, of some sort. I always have had a big heart and loved to help feed, support, and be there in any way I could for family and loved ones, but past that, I didn’t do much that was out of my way of comfort, and added to my own status or towards a goal that was for my own selfish needs. As I grew older, I was taught that we do what we can for others, with boundaries. I wanted the acceptance of others and turned into a “Yes” person very early in recovery. I got sober in a program that believed in incentives. It taught me as an adult, that there was appreciation and meaning in going out of my comfort zone to help others.
Embracing the Power of Service Work: A Journey of Recovery and Giving Back
Service work and volunteering hold a profound place in the hearts of individuals in substance use and mental health recovery. As someone who has embarked on a personal journey of recovery for the past 7.5 years, I have come to appreciate the transformative power of giving back. Though many people in substance use recovery will see service work and volunteering through the lens of 12-step programs, there is purpose and value in volunteering outside of the 12-step communities too, especially for those on a different recovery pathway.
Radical Acceptance Opens the Door to Self-acceptance
Radical acceptance comes in moments of clarity, where denial transforms into connection. The test of my commitment to radical acceptance shows up when I try to fix, control, ruminate about the past, predict the future, or avoid pain.
Radical Acceptance
When I think of radical acceptance, I think of when my only brother passed away. I was in Montana’s Women’s Prison and didn’t have a chance to go to his services. It hurt, and I was sober for the first time since I was a teenager. I was sober, but I wouldn’t say I was in recovery, because I was still living in a way that had many, many character defects.
Radical Acceptance – A DBT Distress Tolerance Skill I Still Utilize
I have struggled with mental health challenges and substance use for most of my life. In my early 20’s I was in and out of psychiatric hospitalizations frequently. I felt everything very intensely and my 20’s were filled with misery, agony, and despair. Though I don’t look back on that time of my life fondly, my difficulties opened the door for me to participate in DBT therapy.
Hiring Peer Support Staff
Candidates often put on their best self, can embellish their credentials, and say what we want to hear. This provides us with false knowledge about a candidate and ultimately a decision which will cost the organization time, energy and dollars. Hiring the wrong person can lead to hours of retraining, coaching, and documenting an employee who will eventually be let go only to restart the process again. Then there is the shrinking workforce nationally. There simply are not as many people to fill healthcare related jobs. Getting it right the first time is important for any organization.
My Journey to Forgiveness
What is the true meaning of forgiveness? Psychologists generally define forgiveness as a conscious, deliberate decision to release feelings of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group who has harmed you, regardless of whether they actually deserve your forgiveness.
Beyond Recovery
Early on in my recovery, I was very focused on myself, and that was necessary. I spent countless hours in treatment, in therapy, and in 12 step meetings.