*At this time, privately-funded trainings are paused to focus on state funded trainings. When resumed, this page will be updated with that information*
Privately-funded trainings are becoming more common than State of Wisconsin-funded Certified Peer Specialist and Certified Parent Peer Specialist training opportunities. Are you interested in purchasing and hosting a CPS or CPPS training for your community or organization? We’ve designed this page to answer some common questions!
Individual counties, tribes, standalone organizations and employers, technical colleges, Comprehensive Community Services (CCS) consortiums, and other entities can use their funding to purchase a training. Some examples of entities that have funded CPS/CPPS trainings, include:
And more…
Flexibility in Serving Specific Communities
Privately-funded CPS/CPPS trainings can typically be organized and scheduled more quickly than state-funded trainings. There is also generally more flexibility to focus on serving specific regions, counties, communities, or demographics in terms of who is eligible to apply for a given training. Likewise, funders of such trainings get to determine the trainers selected to facilitate the training.
Strengthening Peer Support Services in Workplaces
For organizational or employer-sponsored trainings, there exists a higher chance that a funder’s staff or identified community will be able to participate in training. Additionally, through application eligibility specifications, a greater focus on applying the skills in specific employment settings can come from privately-funded trainings. For example, the Treatment Alternatives and Diversion CPS training cohort from a recent training is entirely made up of people who’ve gone through and will be working in drug court. This allows the training to have more of a focus on that employment setting than others.
Expanding the Peer Workforce and Systems Change
The ever-increasing number of privately-funded trainings also support the continued growth and expansion of the peer workforce and highly unique and crucial peer support services in Wisconsin. These services are a key component of the expansion of recovery-oriented services and implementing systemic changes informed by lived experience.
To some degree the geographic and demographic criteria for determining eligibility to apply or applicant selection prioritization for a training can be adjusted. An example of this would be a training that serves a specific tribe can prioritize tribal members in the applicant selection process or a training can dictate that applicants must work or volunteer with the funding organization.
Funders can also sponsor community-specific CPS or CPPS trainings focusing on selected communities and lived experiences outside of mental health/substance use. Trainers for community-specific trainings must identify as members of the selected community or hold the lived experience. Other than this specification, funders get to determine which trainers will facilitate these trainings.
There can also be more flexibility in scheduling training dates and times, so long as the training remains true to its 48-hour duration.
Once an organization or entity has identified interest in privately funding a CPS or CPPS training, an organizational leader or representative may reach out to Gaochi Vang, the Peer Specialist Program Manager at the Wisconsin Peer Specialist Employment Initiative (WIPSEI) at Access to Independence, to set up a meeting for a consultation. This meeting is a prep for the training, in terms of discussing logistics and once the details are agreed upon, the organization or entity is quoted the cost of the privately-funded training and a contract is created to bind the agreement. Access to Independence supports and coordinates all the CPS/CPPS privately-funded and state funded trainings and WIPSEI staff works directly with the funder to support this planning and prep process for the third-party, privately-funded trainings; in doing so, Access does receive a portion of the cost of the trainings as a fee for service.