Look to DBSA to expand your skills and knowledge, keep you on the cutting edge with key skills, and meet re-certification requirements.
On-Site Opportunities
Bring continuing education to your location. DBSA contracts with organizations to deliver these peer specialist continuing education courses to your group of local participants.
Next Steps Peer Specialist Training
Protective Factors to Help Prevent Suicide: The Role of Peer Support
Veteran Peers Navigating Moral Paradoxes
Facilitate Success: Effective Support Group Facilitation
Next Steps Peer Specialist Training (32 hrs.)
Continuing education for experienced peer specialists developed by the International Association of Peer Supporters (INAPS) and DBSA under the SAMHSA-supported national Recovery to Practice initiative. Delivered via a collaborative learning approach, the course includes 24 hours of face-to-face training plus 8 hours of pre-work by training participants. Share your knowledge and learn more from your peers on these key areas of peer specialist practice:
The Transforming Power of Recovery
Peer Support Values and Guidelines
Effects of Trauma on Recovery
Multicultural Awareness
Dual Diagnosis
Wellness
Strengthening Workplace Relationships
Supportive Recovery Relationships
Who can participate: Individuals who have been formally trained and certified as peer specialists in their states or through the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Mental Health Services.
View a brief video on the Next Steps course
Protective Factors to Help Prevent Suicide: The Role of Peer Support (4-6 hrs.)
Experiencing suicidal feelings and desires is common for many peers, and peer supporters can feel powerless to help others head off these feelings or deal with them productively. Participate in this session to learn about four categories of protective factors that can help lessen the desire to end one’s life, and learn how you can help your peers strengthen those protective factors in their lives.
Veteran Peers Navigating Moral Paradoxes (4-6 hrs.)
Military service can cultivate many paradoxes within a service member or Veteran. These paradoxes can cause a person to question their morality, their own perceptions of the world, and their role in it. Course participation helps Veteran peers understand common moral paradoxes and their valued role in helping other Veterans successfully navigate those paradoxes and avoid or mitigate development of mental health or substance use conditions.
Facilitate Success: Effective Support Group Facilitation (1 day)
Learn how to be an effective support group facilitator, keeping the focus on recovery. Participants learn how to craft and use group guidelines, productively guide discussion, and effectively address common challenges. Includes both dialogue and hands-on practice facilitation.
Contact DBSA for information on bringing DBSA training to your location.
