Trainings

This website is the most up-to-date source of scheduled CPS and CPPS trainings in Wisconsin. If there is no training listed on this page that serves your county or tribe, that indicates there are no training events currently planned for your county or tribe.

Click here to learn more about our trainings.

Part of an organization, community program, or county looking to sponsor a training? Click here to learn about how to privately fund and sponsor a CPS or CPPS training.

View Upcoming Trainings

Scheduled Trainings

All trainings’ application periods open at 12pm (noon) on the day applications open, unless noted otherwise.

Certified Peer Specialist (CPS) Trainings:

Opening applications on Monday, June 21st, 2021:

Online CPS Training – Options IL Service Area (click here)
This August and September CPS training will accept applications from residents of Brown, Calumet, Door, Fond du Lac, Green Lake, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Marinette, Marquette, Menominee, Oconto, Outagamie, Shawano, Sheboygan, Waupaca, Waushara, and Winnebago counties. Applications close on Monday, July 19th at noon or when 50 applications have been received.

Opening applications on Monday, July 5th, 2021:

Online CPS Training – U.S. Military Veterans community-specific (click here)
This August/September community-specific CPS training will accept applications from residents of all Wisconsin counties who are US military veterans regardless of one’s character of discharge. Applications close on Monday, August 2nd at noon or when 50 applications have been received.

Opening applications on Wednesday, July 7th, 2021:

Online CPS Training – Access & North Country IL Service Areas (click here)
This September CPS training will accept applications from residents of Ashland, Bayfield, Burnett, Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Douglas, Green, Iron, Price, Sawyer, and Washburn counties. Applications close on Wednesday, August 4th at noon or when 50 applications have been received.

Certified Parent Peer Specialist (CPPS) Trainings:

No CPPS trainings are currently scheduled to open applications.

We would like to stress that basic eligibility for Certified Parent Peer Specialist (CPPS) trainings requires that you have first-hand lived experience of being in a parenting role to a child with mental health and/or substance use experience.

Lastly, we highly encourage people to apply as soon as they are able if interested (i.e., plan to be on those links at noon on the day they open). We can only consider the first 50 applicants per training for potential participation. Once 50 applications are submitted, the application form will close. Statewide CPS trainings reach the 50-applicant maximum very quickly.

How Can I Apply for a Training?

Certified Peer Specialist (CPS) and Certified Parent Peer Specialist (CPPS) trainings are usually designed to serve specific regions of the state made up of various counties. Some trainings may even be specific to a single county or tribe. The listings for trainings on this website will specify to which county and/or tribe you must belong in order to apply.

If you see an upcoming training listed that serves your county or tribe, take note of the date and time applications open. The application for that training will be available on that same event listing at that date and time.

If you don’t see a training listed that serves your county or tribe, join our email contact list or like our Facebook page to stay up-to-date when new trainings are announced.

Filling out and submitting the online application:

It is important that you answer all required questions (marked with an asterisk) on the online training application form. There are also formatting requirements in regards to dates and other fields. If required fields are not answered in the application form or the fields are entered incorrectly, it will register as an error and your application will not be submitted to us when you press the “submit” button.

This is what happens if you try to submit an application with errors:

Applicant presses “submit” button
Instead of being redirected to the “application submission page,” the training application form page reloads
This page now contains language telling the hopeful applicant that some fields were entered incorrectly (applicant may need to scroll down to see this)
Incorrectly filled out or missing fields are highlighted in red
Applicant should fix errors and resubmit
Upon successfully addressing errors, the application submission page with a timestamp will appear (we recommend you print or save a print screen of this page when it appears)

Please note: If the application form page reloads, there is something wrong with your application, and you will need to follow the instructions to address any errors.

Application Review Process:

Applications are accepted through our online application forms only for the time-being. These are linked to on individual training event listings during the application period.

For most trainings, applications close when the application deadline passes or when 50 applications are received, whichever is sooner. The application process for general, statewide Certified Peer Specialist trainings is different.

Click here to read about the unique application process for statewide CPS trainings without a community-specific nature.

For all other trainings (regional, community-specific, or county/tribe-specific, CPPS), after applications close, trainers will be sent applications to review, reach out to no more than 25 applicants out of the possible 50-applicant pool to schedule a virtual interview, and will select 14-18 training participants from those interviewed.

The applicant review and participant selection process is the responsibility of trainers alone. Trainers will submit a roster of selected participants to the Wisconsin Peer Specialist Employment Initiative at least two weeks prior to the training start date. Please do not contact the Wisconsin Peer Specialist Employment Initiative about your selection decision during this review process, as we will not have updates for you. All applicants will be informed of their selection decision regardless of whether they were selected for a training or not.

Participant Agreements

If you are invited by trainers to participate in a training you will be expected to agree to the following to confirm your slot:

I understand that if I withdraw from this training within a week of its start-date, it will be difficult for an alternate participant to fill my slot. I will make every effort to follow through with my participation commitment, barring any unforeseen emergencies.
I understand that full participation and presence is vital for successful completion of this training, and that trainers may drop a participant from a training if a participant has not set aside the training hours for training participation and activities. Participants who miss more than 8 hours of training will not receive a Certificate of Completion. I will reserve training hours for training participation only and promptly communicate any unforeseen scheduling conflicts or emergencies.
I understand that reasonable accommodations can be requested if I have a disability that impacts my optimal participation and engagement with the training. I will submit a reasonable accommodations request, if needed, at least 5 business days prior to my training start-date.
I understand that participation in online trainings requires use of a computer or tablet with a working microphone and camera in Zoom meetings, and that I will need access to internet for this online training. I also understand that the Wisconsin Peer Specialist Employment Initiative has a limited technology-lending inventory and can request tech lending of available technology. I will submit a tech lending request if I need a tablet and/or wifi hotspot at least 5 business days prior to my training start-date.

Attending the Training and Beyond:

As indicated above, if selected as a training participant, it is important that you attend the full training. Though full attendance is necessary to pass the training, it is not a guarantee of receiving the training certificate needed to then apply for taking the CPS or CPPS exam. Passing the training will require both attendance and demonstrating a basic understanding of the materials presented and skills needed in a Certified Peer Specialist or Certified Parent Peer Specialist.

Once you have passed the training and received the training certificate of completion, you may apply to take the statewide exam for the certification specific to your training.

There is currently no registration cost associated with trainings for selected participants.

There is a registration cost of $50 paid to the order of UW-Milwaukee School of Continuing Education when applying for the certification exam or recertification. Currently, this is the only cost associated with either the CPS role or the CPPS role.

Accommodations:

If you require a reasonable accommodation for a CPS/CPPS trraining you are attending due to a disability, please see our Reasonable Accommodations Request Application (click here).