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The National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health (NFFCMH) provides the only National Certification for Parent Family Peers. NFFCMH is responsible for providing oversight to the development and administration of a credible CPSP certification and the credential meets high standards of ethical and professional practice for parent support services and the proficiency and competency of parent support providers. 
 

• Defensible and reliable examinations

• Increased value of the CPSP credential

• Increased availability and recognition

• Ability to defend and protect the CPSP credential

• Increased security and confidentiality

• Increased professional acceptance and marketability of the CPSP credential

• Peer development and review with professional test development guidance
   

The Certified Parent Support Provider™ certification defines the uniform standards and title of parents helping other parents who have children experiencing social, emotional or behavioral health challenges.  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.

Parent Support Providers (CPSP™) help other parents to understand children’s wellness and receive regular consultation from a parent/peer supervisor. In turn, they teach, coach, and mentor other parents/caregivers to be effective advocates for their own children (youth and emerging adults) and equal partners with professionals in the delivery of services and policy development. The overall goal is to decrease the stigma associated with behavioral health challenges and promote effective strength-based children’s services that are family-driven/youth-guided.

The outcome of using a CPSP™ is parents:

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• Positively accessing and being engaged in the treatment and educational services for their child (youth or emerging adult),

• Understanding children’s health and well-being,

• Experiencing less parental stress,

• Increasing the resiliency skills of their child,

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

 

Additionally CPSP™ assists parents and youth to bring their family's voice to the planning and evaluation process of public and private services for children and youth.

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