Frequently Asked Questions - Certified Peer Specialist | Washington State Department of Health

General

When are the peer specialist and peer specialist trainee certifications going to be available? When will they be available online?: The credentials will be available on July 1, 2025. Applications and forms will not be available on the website until then; however, the forms could potentially be released a few days before the implementation date. The department is unable to accept applications before that date. The online applications are anticipated to be available in September 2025, and until then we will only have the paper applications.
Am I automatically disqualified from obtaining the Peer Specialist or Peer Specialist Trainee certifications due to criminal convictions?: No, there are no automatic disqualifications for any DOH credentials. Applicants with a criminal history may be asked to provide court documents, and that will be reviewed by a Case Management Team to determine how to move forward. They could issue the credential outright or have conditions placed on it, such as quarterly supervisor reports, however they rarely outright deny someone.
What are the Ethical Guidelines for peer specialists and how do they work?: Ethical Guidelines are a list of practices to help peers provide high quality care to their participants, keep the peer-to-peer relationship equal, and avoid creating a power imbalance. Following the Ethical Guidelines will help peers avoid disciplinary actions for things such as dating a former participant, having a landlord-tenant relationship with a participant, etc.
Why are the clients referred to as participants?: With the nature of peer work being an equal partnership, referring to the individual receiving services as a client implies it is more of a traditional health care role rather than one of a balanced relationship. While peers do provide interventions for the participants, the direction is completely driven by the individual who is receiving services and the peer specialist is there to help them achieve their goals, not direct them to do certain things based on the peer’s ideas or beliefs. In practice, peers may refer to the client with many different terms, including participant, member, or peer receiving services.

Credentialing

What are the education requirements for the peer specialist and peer specialist trainee credentials?

The educational requirements to become a certified peer specialist or peer specialist trainee are:

1. Complete the Health Care Authority’s 80-hour Certified Peer Specialist training; or

2. For applicants who have previously completed the 40-hour Certified Peer Counselor training, they will need to take the HCA’s Peer Gap Training to cover the additional content used to expand the original course. This training is available online, however there will be a videoconference day scheduled to provide a skills check for information learned in the training course.

What are the experience requirements for the peer specialist credential?

The requirement is to obtain 1,000 hours of supervised experience as a certified peer specialist trainee, under the supervision of an approved supervisor (defined in WAC 246-929-010). Individuals who practiced as a peer counselor prior to July 1, 2025, may use their previous peer experience to qualify for the credential.

What are the examination requirements to obtain the peer specialist certification?

The examinations are included in the HCA Peer Specialist training course for both the oral and written examination. There is no separate examination needed from DOH.

Can I qualify for the peer specialist credential if I took peer training in another state? What about experience from another state?

Yes, your out-of-state training applies but you must take additional Washington trainings to qualify for the peer specialist certification. You will need to take the HCA Gap Training, which builds upon the standard 40-hour training for peers, and the HCA peer prerequisite training, which is required before taking the standard HCA peer training.

HCA Prerequisite Training
HCA Gap Training (available March 2025)

The pre-training provides Washington state-specific information that may be different than the peer profession in your original state. Both trainings are available online, for free, although the Gap training does have an online skills check that must be scheduled ahead of time and requires participation via Teams or Zoom.

Applicants from out of state can meet the experience requirements if they held the credential in another state for one year.

Who can sign off on my experience hours as a peer?

The answer depends on which type of experience you are claiming. The Supervised Experience form lists three different options for hours and they can have different approvers for each:

Option A: 1,000 hours as a peer specialist trainee. This option must be signed by an approved supervisor as defined in WAC 246-929-010. This is a behavioral health provider (until July 1, 2028) or a peer specialist that meets the approved supervisor requirements.
Option B: 1,000 hours obtained prior to July 1, 2025, but after completion of the HCA peer training course. For hours under this option, the form may be signed by a behavioral health provider that worked with you during that time or by an employer that can attest you worked as a peer counselor at that time.
Option C: One (1) year working as a registered agency affiliated counselor (AAC) working as a peer counselor. This can be signed by a representative of the approved agency that employed you as an AAC. (Similar to the individual who can sign off on the AAC employment verification form.)

When can I start counting my experience as a peer towards the credential hours?

For supervised experience hours obtained after the peer specialist credential was available on July 1, 2025, the hours must be earned under the peer specialist trainee credential provided by DOH. The statutory requirements in RCW 18.402.050 (1)(e) require the hours to be completed under this credential.

Hours as a peer from before July 1, 2025, can apply towards the credential starting from the time you completed the HCA Peer Counselor 40-hour training. A behavioral health provider or employer will be required to verify that you were working as a peer at that time.

Time accrued as a registered agency affiliated counselor (AAC) working as a peer counselor can apply towards the one-year requirement up until January 1, 2027. At that time all peers are required to have the peer specialist credential and can no longer work as an AAC peer. See WAC 246-929-150 for more information.

Supervision

I’m a licensed behavioral health provider and I currently supervise peers. Is that still ok under the new peer credentials?

Behavioral health providers are considered an approved supervisor for peer specialist trainees in RCW 18.420.020, but only until July 1, 2028. The intent is to eventually get to a point where it is just peer specialists supervising peer specialist trainees. DOH is required to provide a report to the legislature in December 2027 evaluating whether or not there are enough peer supervisors to provide supervision to trainees, and if not, they may continue to allow behavioral health providers to be approved supervisors for a while longer.

How do I qualify to be an approved supervisor for peer specialist trainees as a peer specialist?

In order to qualify as an approved supervisor as a Peer Specialist, you will need to meet the following requirements:

Hold an active peer specialist certification from DOH
Complete the HCA Peer Supervisor Training
Have 1,500 hours of experience (not including any trainee hours), which includes 500 hours of joint supervision as described in WAC 246-929180 (The 500 hours of joint supervision is included in the 1,500 total hours needed).
Submit the Joint Supervision Verification form to DOH.

Who can supervise certified peer specialists?

The rules for the profession do not require non-trainee peer specialists to be supervised by anyone, they are an independent provider. Therefore, anyone could be the supervisor for a peer; however, there may be limitations on this if you work in a regulated setting such as a behavioral health agency (refer to the rules that govern the regulated agency to see if there are restrictions.)

Peer specialist trainees must have supervision from an approved supervisor, but that may be someone different than their day-to-day supervisor. They must meet the supervision requirements in WAC 246-929 with their approved supervisor, at a minimum, but they may have other supervisors who are not necessarily an approved supervisor.

How can I get the 500 hours of joint supervision required to be an approved supervisor?

This information can be found in WAC 246-929-180. To qualify as a peer specialist supervisor candidate and start working towards the 500 hours you will first need to meet the following requirements:

Hold an active peer specialist certification from DOH;
Have at least 1,000 hours of experience as a peer specialist (trainee hours don’t apply); and
Completed the HCA Peer Supervisor Training course.

You will then need to work with an approved supervisor, as defined in WAC 246-929-010, to supervise your work as a peer specialist supervisor candidate. Once you have completed your supervision hours, the approved supervisor and supervisor candidate must sign the Peer Supervision Attestation form and submit the signed attestation to the department.

Continuing Education

How much continuing education do I need to renew my peer supervisor certification?

Peer specialists are required to obtain 30 hours of continuing education every two years. This is explained in detail in WAC 246-929-300 and requires at least two hours of law and ethics, 14 hours of peer-specific courses, and 14 hours of courses related to mental health or SUD counseling, coaching, professional development or employer-sponsored training.

Additionally, every six years peer specialists must have three hours of suicide prevention training; every four years they must have two hours of health equity training; and if you are an approved supervisor, you must have six hours of supervision-specific CE every two-year CE cycle. Peer specialists must also take a one-time telehealth training prior to providing any telehealth services. All hours obtained for this section will apply in the other 14 hours (non-peer specific) towards the total of 30 hours.

When does the first continuing education cycle start and end?

The first CE cycle starts with your first full two-year credential. Because the credential will expire on your birthday, the first issuance may be less than a full two years. For example, if you apply six months before your birthday then the first issuance will only be for one year and six months, expiring on your birthday. The second issuance will be for two full years, going from birthday to birthday every two years. In this case, the second issuance of the peer specialist certification will be the first time CE courses are required. If you have your first issuance of the credential that is for at least two years, for example you got credentialed days before your birthday, then that first issuance of the credential would be the first time you need to complete the CE. This information is also noted on your renewal card telling you when your CE is due.

What courses qualify for continuing education credit?

Courses that contribute to the individual’s performance as a peer, courses related to mental health or substance use counseling, coaching, and higher education courses for behavioral health or counseling can all count towards the requirements. The course must be approved by a state, national or international organization for peers or counselors to qualify for continuing education. See WAC 246-929- 310 and WAC 246-929-315 for more information.