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

The rule defines two levels of the same credential.

Certified Peer Support Specialist I is the entry certification, with no work-hour requirement.

Certified Peer Support Specialist II is the supervisor level: it adds the 1,500 direct-service hours and supervision training, and per the HHS FAQ a CPSS II may serve as a supervisor for a CPSS I.

Alongside both, HHS runs Parent and Caregiver Peer Support CPSS I/II tracks for primary caregivers with "a minimum of one year lived experience navigating youth serving systems on behalf of their child(ren)" — a separate lived-experience basis with its own 40-hour training.

Every version is a certification issued by the division, not a licence.

The eligibility rule quoted below is the qualification: you self-identify as being in your own recovery and are willing to name it publicly, or you bring a family member's experience.

Read the HHS requirements page carefully against it — the page adds a bullet, "A minimum of one year of healthy living and/or recovery", that does not appear in the rule text.

The rule's own one-year expectation sits in the CPSS I application: the personal statement must include information "establishing a continued recovery for a year or longer", or a year or longer of recovery support for a family member (75-03-43-03(1)(c)).

The CPSS II clause uses the same structure but says "traumatic brain injury" where the CPSS I clause says "brain injury".

Beyond lived experience, a CPSS I applicant must be at least eighteen, currently reside or be employed within the state, hold a high school diploma or general equivalency diploma — or demonstrate reading and writing proficiency for training, documentation and the work — and successfully complete a division-approved peer support training program.

For border-state workers, the FAQ adds: "If your agency services North Dakota residents, you are eligible for certification in North Dakota" — its answer for people working for Minnesota, Montana or South Dakota organizations.

Approval is the certifier's call, not just any course: the HHS FAQ directs applicants to [email protected] to confirm a training's approval status.

The requirements page states the Behavioral Health Division itself hosts a 40-hour, Peer Support Specialist Training that meets criteria for certification, and a separate 40-hour Parent and Caregiver Peer Support Specialist Training for that track.

CPSS I carries no supervised or work-hour requirement — training, recommendations, personal statement, code of ethics and the $50 fee are what the application needs.

The hour total arrives at CPSS II, quoted below, together with proof of division-approved supervision training, two letters of recommendation and another $50 fee (75-03-43-04).

Hours you worked in another state are not lost: the FAQ says out-of-state direct-service hours count toward CPSS II when documented on the Peer Support II Work/Volunteer Hours Verification form signed by an agency supervisor.

Not stated in the sources read.

The chapter's eligibility and application sections condition certification on training completion, recommendations, a personal statement, the code of ethics and the fee — no examination appears anywhere in NDAC ch. 75-03-43, and the HHS requirements and FAQ pages read for this page name none either.

That is a statement about the sources as of September 2026, not a guarantee: confirm current requirements with the division before you plan around it.

Not stated in the sources read.

Neither the rule nor the HHS requirements or FAQ pages state a background-check requirement for applicants.

What the rule does contain is enforcement after certification: the division may revoke a certification "based on a determination that it is necessary to protect the welfare, health, and safety of the residents of the state" (75-03-43-08), and a revoked specialist may reapply no sooner than one hundred eighty days after the revocation.

If you have a record, ask the division directly before applying — an employer's own screening is separate from certification.

North Dakota's vehicle is the Medicaid 1915(i) State Plan Amendment, named on the state's own 1915(i) page.

It lists two peer lines: Peer Support — "Help for you from other people who also live with challenges" — for members ages 18+, and Family Peer Support for members ages 0-17, with members working through person-centered plans of care alongside care coordinators.

One boundary on this page: the 1915(i) document that would name who supervises peer services for billing purposes was not among the sources read, so this page does not state a billing-supervision rule.

The statement comes from the HHS FAQ, not the administrative rule: a CPSS II who has provided a minimum of 1,500 hours of direct service as a peer support specialist and has completed peer support supervisor training may serve as a supervisor for a CPSS I.

The rule chapters read set no supervision ratio or supervisor credential of their own.

And the same boundary as above applies — what the 1915(i) benefit requires for billing supervision was not read, so treat employer and payer requirements as separate questions to confirm with each employer.

The rule quoted below is permissive: a certified peer support specialist from another state may obtain North Dakota certification if the department has entered into a reciprocity agreement with the state that issued the certificate.

It is not the only door — anyone who meets the eligibility rules can apply under 75-03-43-02 and -03 like any first-time applicant.

What does not happen is an automatic transfer: asked whether an out-of-state certificate makes you automatically certified in North Dakota, the HHS FAQ answers "No, you will still need to complete the application process for certification for North Dakota."

Contact the division about your credential before you rely on it across state lines, expect to file the application — training proof, recommendations, personal statement, fee — and know that your out-of-state direct-service hours can count toward CPSS II with the FAQ's verification form.

"Certificates are effective for a period of two years" (75-03-43-05).

Renewal takes a recertification application within ninety days of expiration — personal statement, signed code of ethics, evidence of continued eligibility and the $50 fee (75-03-43-06) — and the continuing-education rule is quoted below: 20 hours per two-year period, at least two on peer specialist ethics, no more than four by self-study or distance learning unless the division grants an exception.

Certified in July or later, your CE cycle starts the following year.

CPSS II adds "four additional hours of training specific to supervision of peer support specialists" (75-03-43-07(2)).

Let a certificate lapse and you reapply as a new applicant under 75-03-43-03.

The chapter as published carries no amendments — every section is effective July 1, 2020, and no 2023–2026 change was located in the sources read.

One document sits outside that window: a 1915(i) SPA 2025 exception document is linked from the HHS 1915(i) page but was not read, so this page states no change to the Medicaid benefit from it.

The 40-hour trainings, the CPSS I/II structure and the reciprocity rule all read as they were adopted.