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

South Dakota issues no peer certification, and no state body certifies peers — PRCoE's January 2023 national chart lists the state as N/A.

What exists is an employment role.

The CMHC manual defines Peer Support Specialist as an individual who attests to lived experience and ongoing recovery from a mental health diagnosis, has completed a Division approved peer support core curriculum training, and is employed by an enrolled community mental health center; the SUD manual defines the same role around a substance use disorder, at an enrolled SUD agency.

Because the definition lives in billing manuals, the requirements bind the Medicaid-billable service rather than a certificate: an enrolled agency bills for peer supports delivered by someone who meets them, and outside that employment there is no credential to hold.

There is no application or board to attest to: the manuals state what the signed self-attestation must say, and they word it by setting.

At a CMHC you attest to lived experience and ongoing recovery from a mental health diagnosis; at an SUD agency, from a substance use disorder.

Apart from the setting-specific wording and the supervisor lists, the two manuals set the same diploma, training and continuing-education requirements and state the same purpose of helping people become and stay engaged in the recovery process and reducing the likelihood of relapse.

Because the attestation is one of the standing conditions of the Medicaid-billable service, it stays with the role: it is what the agency relies on when it bills Medicaid for the peer supports you deliver.

Two entry requirements sit alongside the attestation: a minimum of a high school diploma or equivalent, and documented completion of SAMHSA's peer support core curriculum training.

The manuals list what that training focuses on — advocating for people in recovery, sharing resources and building skills, building community and relationships, leading recovery groups, mentoring and setting goals, and supporting the delivery of recovery focused services within the agency.

Neither manual states an hour total, and no training-hour figure exists in the sources read, so the written record ends at the curriculum's name and focus areas; ask a hiring agency which training it accepts and how long it runs before you enroll in anything.

The manuals state no supervised, work or volunteer hour total for a peer support specialist, and no experience period of any kind.

There is no hour ladder to climb before hire, because there is no certificate to earn: the entry gate is the employment itself — attestation, training, and hire by an enrolled CMHC or SUD agency.

The only experience figure anywhere in the peer requirements sits on the supervision side, where a peer needs at least two years of direct experience providing peer services to become a supervisor.

Supervision of your work is required for billing, but the manuals attach no hour count to receiving it.

There is no exam.

The manuals require the diploma, the signed attestation, employment by an enrolled agency, the core curriculum training and the annual CEUs, and they name no test, no passing score and no assessing body.

What an employer can ask you for is documentation rather than an exam result — the signed attestation and the record of your training completion are the papers the requirements name.

The Medicaid manuals state no background-check requirement for a peer support specialist.

The sources read say nothing either way about whether an enrolled agency runs its own employment screening, so this page cannot tell you what a hiring agency will ask for — only that no rule appears in the billing manuals, and the DSS peer-support page read for this page is silent too.

Ask a prospective employer what it screens for before you apply, and treat that answer as the employer's own requirement rather than a state rule.

Medicaid is the system that defines the role, and it pays for the service: individual peer supports (CPT Code H0038) and group peer supports (CPT Code H0025) are covered when billed by an enrolled CMHC or SUD agency and delivered by a peer support specialist who meets the requirements above.

You are not the billing provider — the CMHC manual requires that services be billed by the enrolled CMHC, and both manuals direct agencies to work with the Division of Behavioral Health to understand the requirements before billing.

The manuals do not name the federal funding vehicle behind the benefit, and the sources read do not establish one, so this page does not guess it.

Supervision is a named condition of the covered service, and the two manuals list their supervisors separately.

At a CMHC it is a psychologist, a licensed professional counselor - mental health, a licensed professional counselor working toward a mental health designation, a clinical nurse specialist, a certified social worker-PIP or a certified social worker - PIP candidate, or a licensed marriage and family therapist with a signed provider agreement with the department to provide mental health services — or a peer with at least two years of direct experience providing peer services.

At an SUD agency it is a certified addiction counselor, a licensed addiction counselor, or that same experienced peer.

The training rule is common to both lists: mental health professionals, addiction counselors and experienced peers may supervise only upon completion of state-approved Supervising Peer Support training.

When you evaluate a job offer, the practical question is whether the agency employs someone who has completed it.

Reciprocity is not applicable: there is no state certificate for an out-of-state credential to convert into, and no endorsement, compact or transfer route appears in the sources read.

A peer certified elsewhere meets South Dakota the same way a first-time peer does — the high school diploma or equivalent, the signed self-attestation worded for the setting, documented completion of SAMHSA's peer support core curriculum training, and hire by an enrolled CMHC or SUD agency.

Whether an employer credits your out-of-state training toward the training requirement is the employer's decision; bring your completion documentation and ask before assuming any of it carries over.

The manuals require documented completion of 10 continuing education units per calendar year that align with the core competencies for peer support as outlined by SAMHSA, with at least 2 units focused on ethics.

Because the role is defined in billing manuals rather than by a certificate, there is no renewal application to file and no expiry date — the CE requirement is one of the standing conditions of the Medicaid-billable service, listed alongside the training and supervision requirements.

The manuals name no registry that tracks the units, so keep your own documentation of what you complete and when.

Both billing manuals carry an UPDATED May 25 marking — May 2025 — and the peer-specific changes in that update were not identified in the documents read.

Nothing in the sources read dates the peer requirements themselves: the definition, the training requirement, the supervision lists and the CE rule all appear without an effective date of their own.

The May 2025 manuals are the documents this page rests on, so treat them as current as of their last update and confirm details with the agency before relying on them.

The state's consumer page on peer support, run by the Department of Social Services' Division of Behavioral Health, describes one-on-one peer support and points readers to Face It TOGETHER, a private organization providing peer coaching for people living with substance use disorder and their loved ones.

Its coaches are certified peer coaches — people with lived experience of addiction, combined with training and supervision.

The page does not say who certifies them; whatever that certification is, it is not a state certification and not the Medicaid peer support specialist role this page describes.

The same page tells readers they may also be able to access peer support through their treatment agency.