College of DuPage to Offer Certified Recovery Support Specialist Training for Students in Recovery

The College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, announced recently that it will begin offering a 16-hour Certified Recovery Support Specialist program to students with lived experience of mental health or substance use recovery beginning in the fall of 2022.

The program, which is being funded by a grant awarded by the Illinois Department of Human Services Division of Mental Health, will prepare students for an entry level position in the behavioral health workforce, specifically in the areas of substance use disorders and mental health disorder recovery. Students will receive full funding for tuition, textbook costs, application fees, childcare, and transportation.

Program graduates can sit for 2 certification exams through the state’s certification board—Certified Recovery Support Specialist or Certified Peer Recovery Specialist.

“The rapidly growing peer workforce is an integral part of behavioral health treatment,” College of DuPage Human Services Associate Professor Jason Florin said in a news release. “Increasingly in the last decade, these highly trained and competent peers are being hired in a variety of different health care settings, non-profits and other recovery-oriented systems.”

Reference

College of DuPage awarded Illinois CRSS success program grant to support individuals with mental health or substance use recovery. News release. College of DuPage. March 17, 2022. Accessed March 21, 2022.