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

Michigan has two state-run peer credentials, and both belong to MDHHS.

The Certified Peer Support Specialist works with beneficiaries who have mental health conditions in the Medicaid delivery system; the Certified Peer Recovery Coach does recovery coaching around substance use and co-occurring disorders.

Both are certifications issued by a state agency — neither is a licence and neither is a private board's credential.

Which one a posting means matters, because eligibility, the lived-experience rule and the supervisor who must sign all differ between them.

For the CPSS, the bulletin asks for a primary diagnosis of a mental health condition, strong personal knowledge of what it is like to have first-hand lived experience with a mental health condition that caused a substantial life disruption, at least one year as a recipient of mental health treatment and/or services, and personal experience navigating complex mental health treatment services.

A substantial life disruption is defined concretely — the bulletin lists what counts, quoted below.

The CPRC instead asks for a substance use, co-occurring or non-substance addictive disorder treated by a public or private provider, two continuous years in recovery at some point in time after the age of 18, and experience navigating treatment systems; self-help groups are not included for that navigation requirement.

You cannot enroll yourself.

The floors come first: CPSS applicants must be at least 18 years of age, and both certificates require a high school diploma, GED or college transcripts in lieu of a diploma or GED — the CPRC states no minimum age beyond its recovery-after-18 rule.

You fill out the application yourself, and MDHHS's approval process adds your supervisor's signature and acknowledgment form, two written letters of reference, your current job description, the peer code of ethics, a truthfulness acknowledgment and a peer-to-peer telephone interview.

The training itself runs five days; the sources state days, not hours, so no hour total is given here.

Your employing agency pays the $500 training fee to the Michigan Disability Rights Coalition — instruction, materials, lodging if you are over 45 miles from the training site, testing — plus salary, meals not otherwise provided and transportation costs for the training.

One date conflict: the MDHHS page lists both forms as Rev. 6-25, but the saved CPSS form's own text reads (Revised 12-25).

Neither the bulletins nor the applications set a supervised-hour total, so this page does not invent one.

What they require is employment: you must be employed by a CMHSP or contract provider at the beginning of training, the application includes your supervisor's signature and your current job description, and you must notify MDHHS's Peer Support Unit if your employment changes.

The CPSS application asks that you already be employed as a peer support specialist, or be so on the day of the training.

For a job seeker, that inverts the usual order — in Michigan you are hired before you train.

Both applications carry the same commitment in their signature block: attend the five-day training and successfully pass a written exam to qualify for certification.

The sources read do not name the exam, publish a cut score, or describe retakes beyond the rule that missed sessions must be made up or the entire training retaken.

Ask MDHHS's Peer Support Unit what the current exam format is before you apply.

Peer support is a Medicaid service in Michigan through two MDHHS bulletins.

MSA 21-38, issued November 1, 2021 and effective December 1, 2021, covers Peer Support Specialist Services; MSA 22-01, issued March 1, 2022 and effective April 1, 2022, covers Peer Recovery Coach Services.

Both name their affected programs as Medicaid and the Healthy Michigan Plan and are distributed to the Prepaid Inpatient Health Plans (PIHPs) and Community Mental Health Services Programs (CMHSPs) that deliver services.

Services rest on medical necessity criteria documented in the individual plan of service through person-centered planning.

The waiver vehicle was not stated in the sources read.

For the CPSS, CMS requires supervision by a Qualified Mental Health Professional (QMHP) as defined by the Medicaid Services Administration; the amount, duration and scope can vary with the peer's demonstrated competency and experience, and may range from direct oversight to periodic care consultation.

For the CPRC, the coach is supervised by a Substance Abuse Treatment Specialist (SATS) or Substance Abuse Treatment Practitioner (SATP) in settings that receive Medicaid reimbursement; programs funded by the Substance Abuse Block Grant (SABG) or Public Act 2 (PA2) instead receive supervision from a case manager, treatment practitioner, prevention staff, or an experienced CPRC with over two continuous years in recovery and over two years of direct provision — the only billing-side peer supervisor in these sources.

Separately, the application's direct-supervisor acknowledgement sets who signs the training form: text revised 4/1/2025 allows MDHHS certified peers with over two continuous years in recovery and over two years in direct provision, or others credentialed, certified, licensed or degreed in the field within which the peer is working.

That is the application-signature rule, not the billing-supervision rule.

No reciprocity or endorsement route into Michigan's peer certifications was located in the sources read.

The nearest provision is a previous-standards clause in MSA 22-01, quoted below, which lets people certified prior to January 1, 2018 by CCAR, MCBAP or a Genesee Health System approved curriculum request a previous standards application — a transition for credentials that predate the CPRC bulletin, not an interstate route.

If you hold a peer credential from another state, plan on Michigan's own application process and ask MDHHS directly.

The sources read state no renewal cycle, renewal fee or CE-hour total for either certificate.

The only related requirement in MSA 21-38's certification list is a professional-advancement bullet, quoted below.

Treat expiration questions as open: before you count on the certificate long-term, ask MDHHS what maintaining it requires.

The framework is recent and actively maintained.

MSA 21-38 took effect December 1, 2021 and MSA 22-01 took effect April 1, 2022.

The MDHHS page labels both training applications Rev. 6-25, but the saved CPSS form's own text is marked (Revised 12-25) while the CPRC form's text matches 6-25 — a conflict between the page label and the CPSS form itself.

The supervisor language in the applications carries a (text revised 4/1/2025) marker, and that text belongs to the application's direct-supervisor acknowledgement.

The MDHHS Peer Recovery Information page also lists an MDHHS-6376 Certified Peer Ethical Violation Report revised 8-26, so the program's paperwork is still moving — check the MDHHS page for the current forms before you apply.

The most recent named pay source for Michigan peers is the 2025 Michigan Workforce Survey, led by the University of Detroit Mercy and the University of Michigan under an MDHHS contract and fielded March 13–May 5, 2025.

Of 221 peer respondents, the 196 currently working as peers reported a median wage of $20/hour and a median 33-hour workweek.

Region and setting differed: peers in the metro region earned $22/hour, ahead of the central ($20/hour) and northern ($19/hour) regions, while CMH settings paid $19/hour versus $21/hour in other settings.

An earlier named survey, published in Psychiatric Services in 2018, surveyed Michigan CPSSs and found a mean wage of $14.90/hour — historical context from before the current bulletins.

These are self-reported survey data, not a state pay schedule.