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Pro-tip: All of this information comes from the CCPS Manual. It’s your in-depth guide to completing your Credential. Keep it handy!
We also have the manual in video form!
Table of Contents
What is the CCPS?
About
The Colorado Certified Prevention Specialist (CCPS) Credential ensures that an individual is equipped with the expertise needed to make a difference in prevention.
Why the CCPS?
Getting credentialed validates your professional expertise, skills and commitment to your field.
High Standards
This credential follows the International Certification & Reciprocity Consortium (IC&RC) standards, which require applicants to complete specific training, receive supervised experience, and pass the IC&RC exam.
In addition, this credential maintains a formal grievance process to ensure accountability and fairness to all parties.
Domains
The Domains are the “core competencies” of the credential. These are just some of the skills, knowledge and abilities that will put you a cut above the rest!
Planning and Evaluation
Prevention Education and Service Delivery
As a Certified Prevention Specialist, you ensure that your community has the most up-to-date knowledge and information in the field. People look to you because you have put the hours in, done the research, and met the guidelines to provide the most relevant information, or know where to find it.
With the CCPS, you understand how to plan programs with data-driven strategy and evaluate program results in order to provide the most effective and culturally relevant information to your organization and community.
Communication
Community Organization
As a communicator, you know how to listen and share information across different identity groups and communities in effective, culturally competent ways. You understand how to present scientific information, teach media literacy, and market your programs effectively.
With an understanding of community organization, you are able to understand the roles of diverse stakeholders in your community and develop prevention strategies that are representative of each demographic.
Public Policy and Environmental Change
Professional Growth and Responsibility
With knowledge implementing system-level changes, you are able to solve problems that affect both individuals and their communities in cost-effective and sustainable ways.
Your education doesn’t end here! Under the Professional Growth and Responsibility domain, you have the tools to continue growing in the prevention space, whether that be through cultural responsiveness, network building, or focusing on your personal health to be the best provider you can be.
Learn more about each domain from the CCPS Committee members below!
Benefits of the CCPS
Community-Focused Prevention Knowledge & Skills
Much of public health training focuses on the medical model of prevention. The training required for the CCPS credential ensures that an individual engages in training from a community-based prevention perspective, making it valuable even for those with a higher level of education like an MPH.
Training Pathway “Roadmap”
With all the training out there for prevention professionals, it can be difficult to know where to begin or what to prioritize. The training pathway for this credential is designed as a roadmap to guide professionals through steps that will connect the dots for their prevention education in a logical and effective way.
Professional Growth & Leadership Development
The CCPS equips prevention professionals with the expertise they may need to advance within their organizations, launch their own prevention initiatives, or perform more effectively in their current roles.
Education Accessibility
The CCPS credential offers a prevention-focused educational pathway to professionals in this field who may be facing barriers to other avenues of higher education for reasons such as financial constraints, heavy workloads, or geographic limitations.
Standardized Expertise
The credential establishes a consistent foundation of prevention knowledge and skills across the workforce.
Core Competencies
The CCPS follows national standards from SAMHSA for quality prevention
work.
Reciprocity
Recognized in other states and countries through IC&RC, your CCPS
credential can go with you.
Ethics
Credential completion encourages ethical and respectful behavior by following a Code of Ethics.
How Do I Get Started?
Eligibility
Consider this your to-do list! You will need to have all of these things ready to go for a complete application.
Education
You must have:
- A high school diploma or equivalent
Residency/Work Requirements
You must live OR work in Colorado at least 51% of the time, at the time of your application.
Training Requirements
Training categories are:
31 hours: Substance Abuse Prevention Skills Training (SAPST)
24 hours: Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drug (ATOD)
6 hours: Prevention Ethics
59 hours: Additional/Other Prevention Training
- Any additional training hours in the first three categories that are beyond the required hours amount should be documented under Additional Prevention Training.
- When choosing trainings for the additional 59 hours, we highly recommend that you prioritize trainings that targets any of your knowledge or experience gaps to ensure experience across all the domains covered in the final exam.
Work Experience
You must have completed 2 years and 2,000 hours of work experience, covering all six IC&RC domains, obtained within 5 years before submitting your application. Of the 2,000 hours, 120 hours need to be verified by a supervisor in Certemy.
- See the manual for more details.
You must also be actively involved in prevention services (internship, volunteer work, employment) when you submit your application.
- Experience must align with the IC&RC Domains.
Additional Requirements
You will provide a Statement of Prevention Experience with your application that reflects on your philosophy of prevention and your journey in the field.
You’re also required to sign and adhere to the Code of Ethics.
Training Guidelines
Types of Trainings
Applicants can submit larger core trainings (like the SAPST) or smaller trainings to satisfy all their domain hours. Acceptable trainings include:
- webinars
- online, self-paced trainings
- live conferences
- live trainings
See the Approved Training List for more!
Certificates of Completion
All trainings you submit are required to have a certificate of completion.
Certemy
About Certemy
Certemy is the platform we use to process applications for the credential. You’ll use it to input your eligibility materials such as certificates of completion, experience hours, lived experience statement and more.
We also have a Certemy walkthrough video on our YouTube!
Fees
It costs $50 to register, and $245 to complete your application for a total of $295. If your organization is paying, please have them fill out this form for payment.
CPFS Committee and Exam
The Committee
Once you have completed your application, it will be reviewed by the CCPS Committee. The Committee meets once a month to review applications.
The Committee’s monthly review agenda is finalized 10 days prior to each meeting. Due to the high volume of applications, the manual allows 1-2 months for final Committee approval or denial of your application. However, this is a rare occurrence.
See the monthly Committee meeting dates.
The CCPS Committee is the final authority on all approvals.
The Exam
The last step in the process! You have one year from your committee approval date to take the exam.
See the manual for information on fees for missed exams and retakes.
Additional Resources
Approved Training List
Contains a list of pre-approved trainings, restrictions and more.
Training Calendar
Contains upcoming trainings. Contact trainers directly for scholarship info.