Advanced Ethics for Certified Peer Recovery Specialists
This advanced ethics training is designed for experienced Peer Support Specialists to meet their biannual ethics training requirements. Building upon the CPRS training content, this training moves beyond basic “rules” and into the nuanced ethical decision-making that is required when working with vulnerable populations.
Participants will explore ethical gray areas that commonly arise in peer roles—including boundaries, dual relationships, power dynamics, self-disclosure, and confidentiality—through a trauma-informed, peer-led lens. Emphasis is placed on protecting the peer relationship and person served without sacrificing authenticity, mutuality, or any of the core values of peer support.
This training centers ethical practice as ongoing skill development, not a checklist that can be achieved. It promotes self-awareness, reflection, consultation, and a willingness to live in the gray in the face of ambiguity.
Learning Objectives
- Describe all key components of the RI Certification Board (RICB) Code of Ethical Conduct
- Identify ethical gray areas and ways to navigate them effectively
- Explain the importance of strong boundaries in peer support work and practices in effectively setting and keeping them
- Describe the importance of supervision in both preventing and addressing ethical dilemmas
- Identify the process for filing an ethics complaint and setting expectations for participation if warranted
- Apply critical thinking skills and peer values to real life scenarios to promote learning and ability to handle ethical concerns as they arise in peer work
Trainer
Daisy M. Hernandez, MSW, LCSW, MBA serves as Trainer and Director of the Recovery Education Collaborative peer recovery technical assistance at C4 Innovations. She earned her Master of Social Work as a fellow of the Integrated Behavioral Health Fellowship from Westfield State University and her Master in Business Administration from Elms College. Daisy has dedicated her clinical social work career to community mental and behavioral health organizations within under-served communities. Her professional experience spans the entire spectrum of substance use disorder (prevention through recovery). As a native of Puerto Rico, she has leveraged her lived experience, bilingualism, and education to support and advance racial justice and empower individuals who are over-represented in behavioral health and social services as a result of negative impacts of social determinants of health, including re-entry.
