How To Get Certified As a PRS

Many individuals in the recovery industry struggle with finding employment once they’ve completed their program, or are ready to take on a more professional role. This happens for many reasons, stigma being a huge barrier to employment for many folks in recovery. Often people in recovery have a checkered past – whether you’ve served time, had run-ins with the law or just haven’t been able to gain professional experience quite yet. At Kyros, we believe that your experiences in recovery are the most valuable for you to carry into your professional career! Your struggles throughout active addiction and into recovery can be your greatest asset as a Peer Recovery Specialist (PRS), read our post on how to become a PRS here. In this post, we’re going to focus on what you need to do once you complete training and are ready to get certified! Keep reading to hear the step-by-step process.

What is Certification, and Why Does it Matter?

Certification is the final step in receiving your entry-level state credential as a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist (CPRS). This credential demonstrates basic competency in peer recovery. The certification process consists of a 2-hour exam that measures your understanding of peer recovery after completing the training class – we’ll discuss this more below!

How to Get Certified

After completing your peer recovery training, whether with Kyros or another organization, you will need to get certified. No matter what organization you train with, in the state of Minnesota you will NEED to get certified through the Minnesota Certification Board (MCB).

Below are the steps you will need to take in order to complete your certification – if you work with Kyros, someone will be available to offer any assistance needed throughout this process.

Create Your Certemy Account
This will be how you access your account on the Minnesota Certification Board website. If you registered for training with Kyros or our partner Refocus Recovery, make sure to select “3rd party payment” for your exam fee and enter Refocus Recovery. Refocus is responsible for all peer recovery training.

Upload Your Documents
To become certified, you will need at least one of the following:

High school transcript
High school diploma
GED

Select ONE of the documents above and upload to your application. Complete EVERY section of the application, Certemy will not notify you if there are sections left blank or if you made any errors.

Check Your Inbox
After completing your application, you will receive an email confirmation from the Minnesota Certification Board. Check the email inbox you used to create your Certemy account, this email can take up to a few days depending on when you submitted your application.

Check Your Inbox … Again!
After receiving confirmation that all of your application information has been uploaded successfully, you will receive another email asking you to schedule your test!

If you do not see an email in your inbox asking you to schedule your certification test, call MCB. You can also search “IC&RC” or “SMT” in your inbox. We sometimes see that this email ends up in an inbox’s junk folder.

Schedule Your Exam
Once you have located this email, it’s time to schedule your exam! Select the time and date that you wish to take your exam. If you are working with Kyros throughout this process, you have the option to take your exam on a laptop provided here at our office location!

Take Your Exam
The CPRS certification exam takes roughly 2 hours to complete and is monitored virtually by a proctor. Please take your exam in a room with no windows, no materials out, and no cell phone present for the entire exam.

And … You Guessed it! Check Your Inbox Once Again
You will receive an email notifying you of your exam scores that can be accessed through your Certemy account. If you passed, your certificate will be uploaded to this account and you can officially begin working as a CPRS! If you did not pass, don’t worry – we’ve got you covered. Reach out here and we can help you find the best options for rescheduling your test!

Certification is the “C” in CPRS

Getting certified is what allows you to get out into the community and start helping others immediately! Working as a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist (CPRS), we appreciate all recovery experiences. After all, these are the experiences that allow you to connect with others in recovery that have walked a similar path. Utilizing your recovery experiences as a CPRS allows you to connect with clients that you’re working with, and form a client-provider relationship that is beneficial to both you and your client(s).

Need Some Assistance?

If you’ve run into a roadblock along your certification process, reach out to MCB over the phone to speak with someone who can help you directly.

If you’re working with Kyros, reach out to our team here for assistance with your certification, or how to onboard with Kyros once you’ve completed your certification!