Certified Recovery Peer Advocate-Family

What is CRPA-Family?

The Certified Recovery Peer Advocate-Family is a specialization, or "parenthetic," under the existing CRPA (Certified Recovery Peer Advocate). It offers existing Certified Recovery Peer Advocates (CRPA) with the required "lived experience" (see "definition of a peer" below) an opportunity to offer specialized family peer support.

The CRPA-Family certification and specialized training have been developed in response to new opportunities under provisions of the Children's Health and Behavioral Health Services New York State Plan, effective July 1, 2019.

What are the career opportunities for CRPA-Family?

Demand for CRPA-Family is expected to grow as peer expertise in serving eligible families affected by substance use in services delivered in Part 823 Children's Services grows.

These services consist of formal and informal activities and supports provided to the parent or primary caregiver of families caring for/raising a child who is experiencing social, emotional, medical, developmental, substance use, and/or behavioral challenges in the home, school, placement and/or community.

Services may be offered in a variety of settings including community locations, the home where the child lives, works, attends school, engages in services and/or socializes.

The specialized expertise of the CRPA-Family is expected to address a critical need in those agencies that serve families impacted by substance use disorders and want to enhance their service outcomes through peer-supported, long-term recovery.

Who is qualified to become CRPA-Family?

CRPA-Family requires that candidates meet the following standards:

Are already certified as CRPA (not CRPA-Provisional)
Have completed 10 hours online family supported recovery training
Have completed 10 hours in-person CRPA-Family training via ASAP-PWI authorized trainers
Attest and adhere to the NYCB Code of Ethical Conduct found on our homepage, and its addendum, Family Supported Recovery-Ethical Standards
Meet the CRPA-Family definition of a "peer" (see below)

What is the CRPA-Family definition of a "peer"?

Lived experience for a CRPA-Family is defined as: "a parent, or primary caregiver, of a youth (21 years or younger at onset of family exposure to youth's substance use) who has participated in, or navigated, the substance use disorder services system." Please note: This specific definition of lived experience is unique to the CRPA-Family role
Work experience is provided via the candidate's pre-existing engagements as a CRPA
Education experience consists of the combined 50-hour CRPA (prerequisite) and specialized 20-hour CRPA-Family training programs

What is the CRPA-F training program?

The Peer Workforce Initiative (PWI), in partnership with Families Together in New York State (FTNYS), has developed the required training for CRPA-Family candidates.

Training consists of the following:

50 hours Peer Recovery foundational training required for CRPA (see details at https://www.asapnys.org/nycb-approved-training/); plus
10 hours family-specialty online training module - click here for instructions on how to access this training; followed by
10 hours family-specialty classroom/online training - click here for details, https://www.asapnys.org/crpa-f-training/. Reach out to trainers for schedules/fees.

Training is offered to participants interested in:

expanding their peer knowledge base; preparing for certification as a CRPA-Family;
earning approved continuing education hours for peer recovery certification renewal (CRPA, CARC)
learning how to effectively navigate the challenges of loving a child with Substance Use Disorder

Click on the image to enlarge.

Where can I find CRPA-Family training?

Training is provided by Peer Workforce Initiative (PWI) authorized trainers. Please click here for a list of NYS trainers of the CRPA-Family curriculum.
Please register here for an upcoming training.

Training provision was seriously disrupted by the Covid pandemic. As a consequence, online CRPA-Family training options have been added - see details on the CRPA-Family training page.