A CFPS is a parent, family member, or caregiver who has or had responsibility parenting a child or as a primary caregiver for another family member experiencing mental health and/or substance use challenges. They can speak about and use their lived experience to support other families to advocate for their child’s or family member’s well-being, supporting them in navigating systems, and offering other necessary resources.

The National Federation of Families is responsible for providing oversight to the development and administration of a credible CFPS certification and ensuring that the credential meets high standards. National certification ensures the ethical and professional practice of family peer support services and the proficiency and competency of family peer support providers. It provides:

• Defensible and reliable examinations

• Increased value of the CFPS credential

• Increased availability and recognition

• Ability to defend and protect the CFPS credential

• Increased security and confidentiality

• Increased professional acceptance and marketability of the CFPS credential

• Peer development and review with professional test development guidance

• Ensuring the FSP workforce is well-trained and highly qualified

The Certified Family Peer Specialist™ certification defines the uniform standards and title of caregivers supporting other caregivers who have children experiencing social, emotional, or behavioral health challenges. National certification promotes ethical practice and creates mobility of workers across states. It brings to the workforce parents with experience in successfully helping their own children and increases the acceptance of this effective "modern and good" or best practice.

Certified Family Peer Specialists™ receive regular supervision to ensure their ability to support other families in understanding wellness and advocacy for family-driven approaches to behavioral health support. In turn, they support, teach, coach, and mentor other parents/caregivers to be effective advocates for their loved one and equal partners with professionals in the delivery of services and policy development. The overall goal of family peer support is to decrease bias and prejudice associated with behavioral health challenges and promote effective strength-based, cross-system services that are family-driven/youth-guided.

The outcome of receiving support from a CFPS™ is families:

• Positively accessing and being engaged in treatment and educational services for their loved one

• Understanding the health and well-being of their loved one

• Experiencing less family stress

• Increasing the resiliency skills of their loved one and family

• Reducing the use of expensive hospitalization and long-term residential treatment

A parent, family member, or caregiver who has or had responsibility parenting a child or as a primary caregiver for another family member experiencing mental health and/or substance use challenges plus 88 contact hours of training, and 500 hours of work (paid or unpaid) experience delivering peer level support to other similarly situated families are eligible to apply for certification.

To apply, please watch our brief "How to Apply" video below and review the Application Guidelines page which we hope will answer all of your questions and help you prepare to apply. You may also review our Candidate Handbook to learn more about applying to become a CFPS.