What You’ll LearnThe course explores the core competencies identified for Certified Medi-Cal Peer Support Specialists working with justice-involved individuals, including:
- Application of Lived Experience — using appropriate self-disclosure, modeling recovery, building trust, and supporting individuals as they transition toward healthier and more pro-social behaviors.
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Advocacy & Self-Advocacy — helping individuals understand their rights and responsibilities, navigate systems, reduce stigma, access resources, and strengthen their ability to advocate for themselves.
- Person-Centered Peer Support — developing healing relationships grounded in respect, compassion, active listening, self-determination, cultural humility, and individual choice.
- Engagement Skills & Interventions — applying techniques such as motivational interviewing, de-escalation, emotional regulation, skill-building, and positive behavior supports.
- Cultural Responsiveness — understanding cultural identity, structural inequities, historical and contemporary racism, justice-system subcultures, stigma, and the impact these factors may have on recovery and reintegration.
- Trauma-Informed Support — recognizing trauma associated with criminal justice involvement and supporting individuals through approaches that promote safety, trust, emotional regulation, choice, and wellness.
- Self-Awareness & Self-Care — recognizing triggers, compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma, burnout, and the importance of maintaining personal wellness while supporting others.
- Mental Health, Substance Use & Co-Occurring Conditions — understanding recovery principles, harm reduction, stages of change, recovery capital, substance use services, and the unique vulnerabilities individuals may experience following incarceration.
- Professional Boundaries & Ethics — maintaining confidentiality, ethical peer relationships, appropriate boundaries, professional responsibilities, and the defined role of a Certified Medi-Cal Peer Support Specialist.
- Safety & Crisis Planning — identifying signs of distress, recognizing risk factors, using de-escalation strategies, supporting safety planning, and responding appropriately to crisis situations.
- Justice-System Navigation & Community Reintegration — understanding the criminal justice continuum and helping individuals navigate probation, parole, behavioral health care, housing, employment, education, transportation, treatment, recovery services, legal resources, and other community supports.
- Recidivism Risk & Protective Factors — understanding criminogenic needs, environmental influences, trauma, behavioral health factors, pro-social supports, and strategies that can help individuals reduce barriers to successful reintegration.
The Power of Lived Experience
Research highlighted in the curriculum emphasizes the importance of
lived experience, successful reentry, and an understanding of trauma within peer relationships.
For individuals involved in the criminal justice system, receiving support from someone who understands aspects of that experience can create a level of connection, credibility, hope, and trust that traditional services alone may not provide.
The goal is not simply to help someone navigate a system—it is to support people in building the skills, relationships, resources, confidence, and recovery capital needed to create a meaningful life in their community.
Who Should Take This Course?
This specialization is designed for
Certified Medi-Cal Peer Support Specialists who are interested in strengthening their ability to provide peer services to individuals who:
- Are currently involved with the criminal justice system
- Are preparing for or experiencing community reentry
- Are navigating probation or parole requirements
Have histories of incarceration or repeated justice-system involvement
- Experience mental health and/or substance use challenges
- Need support accessing housing, employment, treatment, recovery, healthcare, education, or community resources
- Face stigma or barriers related to their justice involvement
Course Format
Investment: $1,600
Format: 100% Online
Learning Style: Self-Paced / Asynchronous
Complete the training on your own schedule while developing specialized knowledge and practical skills that can be applied in peer support, behavioral health, reentry, recovery, and community-based service settings.
Build the Skills to Support Successful Reentry
Certified Medi-Cal Peer Support Specialists can provide something uniquely powerful: hope backed by lived experience.
Develop the specialized skills to support justice-involved individuals with dignity, respect, accountability, self-determination, recovery, and meaningful community reintegration.
