NOTICE!!!
Invitation to Help Shape Kentucky's Peer Support Training Curriculum
Dear Partners and Colleagues,
The Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities (DBHDID) is inviting individuals with experience and expertise in peer support services to participate in an upcoming focus group to help strengthen Kentucky's Certified Peer Support Specialist training curriculum.
DBHDID oversees credentialing for Kentucky's Adult, Family, and Youth Certified Peer Support Specialists. As part of our ongoing work to update Kentucky's peer support regulations and align training expectations with national peer support standards, our team has been reviewing and strengthening the curriculum guidelines used for peer support specialist training. A key goal of this work is to ensure that future training provides a strong foundation for supporting individuals with both mental health and substance use disorder needs. We are also developing a new six-hour training curriculum for professionals who supervise peer support specialists.
We need your perspective.
Before these curriculum guidelines are finalized, we want to hear from the people who know this work best. We are forming focus groups that include a broad range of stakeholders, including:
Certified Peer Support Specialists;
Peer support supervisors; and
Training developers and facilitators
It is important that we hear from both those who develop and deliver peer support training and those who receive the training and put it into practice every day. Your experience can help us identify what works, what may be missing, and what future peer support specialists and supervisors need to be successful.
What does participation involve?
Focus group members will be asked to participate in a three-hour virtual session during one of the following times:
Monday, September 21, 2026: 9:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. or 1:00–4:00 p.m.
Monday, September 28, 2026: 9:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. or 1:00–4:00 p.m.
The session will include a large group discussion as well as smaller breakout groups focused on the Adult, Family, Youth, and Supervisor curriculum content. Participants will have opportunities to provide feedback through discussion and brief surveys or questionnaires. Because of the interactive nature of the focus groups, we ask that participants commit to the full three-hour session and participate from a setting that allows them to be fully engaged with minimal interruptions or distractions.
Interested in participating?
Please complete this brief Peer Support Curriculum Focus Group Interest Survey no later than 5:00 PM on Monday, August 24, 2026.
The survey will ask for basic contact and organizational information, your connection to peer support services, and which of the available sessions you would be able to attend. Additional information will be provided to individuals selected to participate.
Individuals who are participating on their own time are eligible for a reimbursement of $25 per hour. Individuals who are participating in the focus group as part of their regular job duties and are being compensated by their employer for their work time are not eligible to receive the reimbursement.
We recognize the tremendous expertise that exists across Kentucky's peer support community. Your continued work helps strengthen peer support services throughout the Commonwealth, and we want that experience represented as we consider the future of peer support training.
Thank you for your partnership and for considering this opportunity to help shape this important work. If you have any questions about the focus group, please contact Certified Peer Support.
What is DBHDID-TRIS?
The Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities Training Records Information System (DBHDID-TRIS) is a web-based system for maintaining training information for DBHDID. All information transmitted on this site is secured via a secure socket layer (SSL).
How do DBHDID Approved Training Providers utilize DBHDID-TRIS?
Once an entity becomes approved to teach a Peer Support Specialist, Community Support Associate, or Targeted Case Management curriculum, they will be given an account in the DBHDID-TRIS system. Training Providers will use DBHDID-TRIS to upload sign-in sheets and other required documentation for each training they conduct. Participants of those trainings will be assigned credit for the training in their own personal DBHDID-TRIS account. For those who do not already have an account, one will be created for them.
How do PSS, CSA, and TCM utilize DBHDID-TRIS?
Peer Support Specialists (PSS), Community Support Associates (CSA), and Targeted Case Managers (TCM) certified in Kentucky will use their unique DBHDID-TRIS account to submit proof of their required hours of continuing education, as outlined in the appropriate Kentucky Administrative Regulation (KAR), to the DBHDID.
Following the PSS, CSA, or TCM certification training through an approved DBHDID Training Provider, an individual account is created for each person who became certified. The individual should then:
Receive an email from csa@ky.gov.
Check their spam/junk folder for the email if they didn’t receive it.
Click the link in the email to confirm their account.
Set up their password per the instructions in the email.
Receive another email that will contain their username.
All trainings (certification trainings and CE trainings) entered into an account will show on the individual’s DBHDID TRIS Training Record. DBHDID-TRIS accounts will follow the individual no matter where they are employed. Employers do not have access to these accounts.
Additional Questions?
Contact the Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities (DBHDID) for any other questions or comments by mail or email at:
Division of Program Integrity
275 E. Main Street 4CD
Frankfort, KY 40621
csa@ky.gov