PRS Certification and Renewal Support

How do I renew my certification?

Your PRS certification expires two years after the date you were certified. You should submit you renewal application within 90 days of your certification expiration.

You can find the following steps for recertification on the OhioMHAS website:

1. Log into your account at https://elicense.ohio.gov/oh_communitieslogin and complete the recertification application.
2. Complete and submit into the eLicense application portal the Continuing Education Log, listing 30 hours of continuing education (CE) credit hours, and certificates of completion for each training. At least 16 of those hours must be in the following topics, as listed:

• Ethics (may include HIPAA, confidentiality): 3 hours
• Boundaries: 3 hours
• Diversity and inclusion/cultural sensitivity: 2 hours
• System Navigation and care coordination: 1 hour
• Trauma-Informed Care: 2 hours
• Human Trafficking: 1 hour
• Behavioral health knowledge (may include recovery and resiliency): 1 hour
• Basic principles related to health and wellness: 1 hour
• Principles of coaching as applied to the delivery of peer services: 2 hours

Unless you have new offenses on your record since your last certification date, you will NOT need to complete a BCI/FBI background check to recertify.

Once you complete the recertification steps in the eLicense portal, OhioMHAS will process your application. You can check the status of your certification renewal by logging into the eLicense portal.

My certification expired, what do I do?

You may still apply for recertification in the eLicense portal, but your record will indicate a lapse in certification.  If you are currently employed as a Peer Recovery Supporter, a lapse in certification may impact your ability to provide Medicaid-billable services.

If you were ever certified as a Peer Recovery Supporter in Ohio since 2016, you need only to complete the certification renewal process, no matter how much time has passed since your certification lapsed.

Where can I find CEUs?

Continuing Education Units or hours (CEUs) for PRS re-certification can be earned in a variety of settings that include attending in-person conferences or trainings, webinars or on-demand online courses.

To qualify as a CE opportunity, all conferences and trainings must be at least one hour long and have written goals and objectives.

You must obtain a certificate of completion for each training you intend to submit for recertification. The certificate must include the name of the training, your name, and the times of the training or CE credits earned. If the certificate includes the times of the training, you will earn one CE credit per hour of training. For example, a training from 1:00-3:00 p.m. is worth 2 CE credits.

The following resources include training opportunities:

• OhioMHAS website
• MHAOhio’s Peer Resource Guide
• MHAOhio’s monthly PRS Newsletter

How do I find a job?

If you are in Central Ohio, see the employment pages for the following organizations that hire PRS to see if any openings are currently available:

• Download a Resource Packet

Many mental healthcare providers, addiction treatment providers, health care providers, peer-led organizations, and other organizations employ certified Peer Recovery Supporters.

You can search for Peer Recovery Supporter jobs just as you would any other job (on popular job-search websites like Indeed), but we also have a few more targeted resources that can help.

Subscribe to MHAOhio’s PRS Newsletter for a monthly list of current openings in Central Ohio.

See the job board operated by The P.E.E.R. Center at ohiopeers.org for employment opportunities around the state.