MHA Announces Collaboration on Peer Support with Mental Health Partnerships

February 28, 2018

Mental Health America (MHA) has entered into a collaboration with Mental Health Partnerships, formerly the Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania, to promote MHA’s National Certified Peer Specialist (NCPS) certification and MHP’s Certified Peer Specialist (CPS) Training.

“Building on a relationship of over 60 years MHA and Mental Health Partnerships are united in their quest to provide peer support with the tools to achieve its highest goals in assisting people in their journeys to recovery,” said Patrick Hendry, VP of Peer Advocacy, Supports, and Services at MHA.

The shared goal of MHA and MHP is to promote the availability of peer support in the public and private sectors, expanding career opportunities and securing equitable wages for peer specialists. They share the belief that high standards of training and experience in the field are key to increasing the use of peer support and improving outcomes for individuals, systems, and peer supporters.

MHP is a training partner for the MHA NCPS certification, the first national advanced peer specialist certification. MHP’s Institute for Recovery has provided its Certified Peer Specialist Training to over 3,500 peer specialists in the state of Pennsylvania since 2007. The MHP curriculum focuses on the principles of recovery through self-determination. The course relates to individuals by applying their personal lived experience to core skills, knowledge and beliefs as pillars of peer-to-peer support.

“We are honored to be in partnership with MHA as the movement for peer support continues to grow.  We remain committed to original values of recovery, personal liberation, and freedoms,” says Clarice Bailey, VP of Strategy, Education, and Advocacy at MHP.

As the field of peer support continues its rapid expansion, MHA and MHP’s partnership will deepen the capacity of peer specialists and promote opportunities for the more than 30,000 peer specialists working around the US.

For more information, contact Kelly Davis at kdavis@mentalhealthamerica.net.