Peer Support Specialist Certification in Georgia: Training, Hours and Medicaid Rules

Georgia's credential is the Certified Peer Specialist, issued by DBHDD in four types: CPS-Mental Health, CPS-Addictive Disease, CPS-Youth and CPS-Parent.

Ancillary add-on credentials - Whole Health and Wellness Coach, Forensic Peer Mentor - may be attached to a base credential, but DBHDD is explicit that they do not constitute a CPS designation on their own.

Read a job posting accordingly: if an employer asks for "a CPS", confirm which of the four base types it requires, since the lived-experience basis differs for each.

Each credential carries its own lived-experience definition.

CPS-MH requires lived experience with a mental health condition while practicing recovery related to that condition; CPS-AD mirrors it for addiction.

CPS-Y is for young adults between the ages of 18 and 30 whose lived experience is of either condition as a youth.

CPS-P is the credential defined by the family route: a parent or legal guardian, in a permanent relationship of at least three (3) years, who has raised a young person with either condition and supported that young person's recovery.

GMHCN adds an eligibility gate for CPS-MH training: you must be well-grounded in recovery, with at least one year working towards wellness and recovery.

Training hours: not stated in the sources read.

For CPS-MH, GMHCN's qualifications are: willingness to identify as a person living with a mental health condition and use that lived recovery experience to support others; being a Georgian at least 18 years of age; at least a high school diploma or GED; being well-grounded in recovery with at least one year working towards wellness and recovery; and strong reading, comprehension and written communication skills.

Selection has two scored stages and a cut between them: from the written application, open approximately 14 days, only the highest scoring applicants are invited to the interview while the rest are notified they were not selected; the interview runs one to two hours with a group of approximately 5 other applicants.

The 35 highest combined scores per cohort are offered the training within 7-10 business days, and an employment verification form is uploaded if the training is a condition of employment.

CPS-AD trains through the Georgia Council for Recovery and CPS-Y/CPS-P through the Georgia Parent Support Network; their selection processes were not read for this page.

GMHCN's renewal policy confirms that passing an exam is part of the certification: its inactivity rule runs from the year a CPS passes the credentialing exam.

Beyond that reference, the exam's format, content and pass mark were not located in the sources read.

The scored group interview at the application stage is a selection step for the training, not the credentialing exam itself - expect both, and confirm current exam arrangements with GMHCN or DBHDD before you apply.

Peer support is an established Medicaid service in Georgia, and DBHDD frames it as the origin of the national movement: it states Georgia was the first state to request and receive Medicaid reimbursement for Peer Support as a statewide mental health Rehabilitation Option service, in July 1999.

What the page does not give is the billing machinery - service definitions, billable codes and rates sit in DBHDD's Behavioral Health Provider Manual, which was not read for this page, and the supervision required for billing was not located in the sources read.

If you are taking a Medicaid-billed peer job in Georgia, confirm the current billing and supervision requirements against that manual.

DBHDD closes the transfer door explicitly: peer credentials offered or recognized by national entities are not considered equivalents to, or deeming for, the DBHDD CPS credential.

No reciprocity or endorsement route appears in the sources read.

If you hold a peer certification from another state or a national body, plan on completing Georgia's own application, selection and training process for the credential you want, and ask DBHDD first whether any part of your existing credential counts - do not assume it does.

GMHCN's policy runs on a calendar year, and record keeping is the certified specialist's own responsibility.

Only its 12-CEU minimum is limited to Certified Peer Specialists from Cohorts 1-95.

Its other CEU rules are stated for all Certified Peer Specialists, without the cohort limit: one ethics training annually, six of the year's CEUs from a GMHCN-sponsored conference, training or webinar, and up to six from other providers such as the Georgia Council for Recovery, Relias or the Georgia Parent Support Network, with unapproved vendors subject to review.

CEUs do not roll over and are due by December 31.

Submitting after January 15 costs a $26 late fee; missing February 28 places the certification on inactive status, and coming back requires a reactivation application with a $105 reactivation fee and any other subsequent fees.

A CPS-MH inactive longer than 2 years must complete CPS recertification training.

The sources read do not state what applies to cohorts after 95, nor renewal rules for CPS-AD, CPS-Y and CPS-P.

DBHDD marked 2025 as 25 years of Peer Support leadership and practice, reporting approximately 4,600 CPS trained and certified across the Mental Health, Substance Use, Youth and Parent types and well over $20M in Peer Support services provided annually.

Specialty certifications now include Whole Health, Forensic, Addictive Disease (Opioid Misuse) and Deaf & Hard of Hearing lived experience.

No change to the CPS certification rules themselves in the 2023-2026 window was located in the sources read.

DBHDD's own policy states its role as the sole certification body for Certified Peer Specialists in Georgia, citing federal CMS SMDL #07-011, the 2007 CMS letter that frames Medicaid peer coverage as a state option.

Certification is offered only to individuals completing training and testing as provided by DBHDD and the certification training body named in the policy, and no other training bodies are recognized.

The policy text itself was not read for this page, so which body it names is not stated in the sources read.

For application and training, the DBHDD CPS page sends readers to a listed organization per credential type - GMHCN for CPS-MH, the Georgia Council for Recovery for CPS-AD, the Georgia Parent Support Network for CPS-Y and CPS-P - so confirm the route for your credential with DBHDD before you pay for any course.