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

The Nevada credential is the Certified Peer Recovery Support Specialist (PRSS), issued by the Nevada Certification Board in two rungs: PRSS-Intern (PRSS-I) and full PRSS certification.

The same board certifies the PRSS Supervisor (PRSS-S) that qualifying hours must run under, and operates a parallel family track, the Family Peer Support Specialist (FPSS), with its own FPSS-S supervisor.

Certified PRSS specialists can add a problem-gambling (PG) or trauma-informed-care (TIC) endorsement.

These are certifications from a private nonprofit board, not a state licence: the PRSS-I application costs $35 and the full PRSS application and testing fee is $165.

The recovery clock is the qualification gate.

Full PRSS certification requires at least two years of recovery before you certify; the PRSS-I certificate is open at one year, which is the rule's own early-start route if you are close to the two-year mark.

The board's overview defines the qualifying lived experience as recovery from substance use, problem gambling, mental health and/or other co-occurring challenges.

The family track defines eligibility differently: lived experience parenting a child or youth with developmental, behavioral, or mental health care needs, extended to natural, step- and adoptive parents, foster parents, kinship caregivers and family friends chosen as primary caregiver.

Two education gates sit before certification: a high school diploma or jurisdictionally certified high school equivalency (HiSET or GED in Nevada), and successful completion of an NCB-approved PRSS foundational training.

The requirements page states no hour figure for that training, so confirm current hours with NCB or the training provider before enrolling rather than budgeting from a number this page cannot source.

The 2022 checklist named the approved trainings NCB accepted at the time: CASAT Learning online self-paced training, Foundation for Recovery training, and CASAT in-person academic training.

Initial training must also have been completed within the past five years, so older coursework has to be redone.

The current requirements page asks for 475 hours of volunteer or paid work experience in the IC&RC PR domains, performed under a NCB Certified PRSS Supervisor, plus 25 hours of supervision with a minimum of five hours in each domain.

An older 2022 checklist stated the total as 500 hours including the supervision; the two reconcile if the 25 supervision hours count inside 500, and the current page's wording is the one to plan around.

The practical upshot is sequencing: find a certified PRSS-S before you start logging hours, because hours worked under anyone else do not satisfy the requirement as written.

NCB's checklist also notes it cannot provide placements or referrals, so the field-experience arrangement is yours to make.

Every applicant must pass the IC&RC Peer Recovery Examination, the exam IC&RC sets for its peer recovery credential; NCB links IC&RC's candidate guide for preparation.

Cost is bundled on the Nevada side: the PRSS application and testing fee is $165, and an exam retake after a failure or a missed appointment costs $80.

Applicants who need ADA accommodations are directed to contact NCB before scheduling.

The requirements page names one supervisor for the qualifying hours: an NCB Certified PRSS Supervisor.

The 25 supervision hours need a minimum of five hours in each IC&RC PR domain, so they have to be spread across domains rather than accumulated in one.

The supervisor requirement does not end at certification either: a certified PRSS-S must stay in place through your first renewal, with meetings at least biweekly.

Supervisors hold their own NCB certification (a $125 application, renewed at $75), and the family track has its own FPSS-S.

NCB is an IC&RC member board, and a peer certification from another state may transfer if it is eligible under IC&RC reciprocity — the reciprocity page says to check the IC&RC member-board directory first to see if your certification is eligible to switch from state to state.

If it is, your home board issues a Reciprocity Application, IC&RC verifies it and forwards it to the Nevada Certification Board, and NCB contacts you when the process is complete.

The requirements page also attaches a residency condition that survives the move: you must live and/or work in Nevada at least 51% of the time, both to be certified and to keep the certification.

Recertification runs on a two-year cycle with a $100 renewal fee and 20 hours of continuing education in the IC&RC Peer Recovery Domains, six of them in ethics.

Continuing education must be completed within the renewal period, and each hour needs a certificate of attendance or participation from an approved training organization showing the sponsor, the training title and dates, the participant's name and the hours.

A $50 late fee attaches to renewals that have been expired for 30 days.

The biweekly supervision requirement runs through the first renewal, which is the point the requirements page ties it to.

The work-experience wording changed from 500 hours on the 2022 checklist to 475 hours plus 25 supervision hours on the current page; the change date is not stated, so treat the current requirements page as governing.

NCB's PRSS code of ethics PDF is dated March 2025 and is worth reading before you apply, because agreeing to the code of ethics is itself an application requirement.

Nevada Medicaid also moved under the Nevada Health Authority, and the manual that would say how peers bill could not be retrieved at the time of reading, which is why this page states no Medicaid rule.