Regional County Training Forums:
Innovative and Promising Practices for Meeting the
Behavioral Health Needs of Older Adults
The Council of Southeast PA, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

What is a CRS?
 A Certified Recovery Specialist provides peer-to-peer Recovery Support services.
 An individual with “lived experience” of addiction and recovery.
 Is a role model and mentor (offers his/her life as living proof of the transformative power of recovery.)
 Provides stage-appropriate addiction recovery education and advice.
 Acts as an advocate (helps individuals and families navigate the service system, assuring service access, service responsiveness, and protection of rights.)
The Council of Southeast PA, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

What Are Peer-to-Peer Recovery Support
Services?
 Services to help individuals and families initiate, stabilize, and sustain recovery
 Non-professional and non-clinical
 Provide links to professional treatment and indigenous communities of support
 Honors all pathways to recovery
• They are not:
 Professional addiction treatment services
 Mutual aid support
The Council of Southeast PA, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

When Are Peer Recovery Support Services
Delivered?
Across the full continuum of the recovery process:
 Prior to treatment
 During treatment
 Post treatment
 In lieu of treatment
The Council of Southeast PA, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Peer Recovery Support Services Encompass Four
Types of Social Support
• Emotional
• Informational
• Instrumental
• Affiliational
The Council of Southeast PA, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

What Does the CRS Do?
• Personal guide and mentor for individuals seeking to achieve or sustain long-term recovery from addiction, regardless of pathway to recovery
• Connector to instrumental recovery-supportive resources, including housing, employment, and other professional and nonprofessional services
• Liaison to formal and informal community supports, resources, and recovery-supporting activities
The Council of Southeast PA, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Where Can the CRS Deliver Services?
 Recovery community centers
 Faith and community-based organizations
 Recovery residences
 Emergency departments
 Addiction and mental health service agencies
 Jails and prisons
 Probation and parole programs
 Drug courts
 HIV/AIDs and other health and social service centers
 Children, youth, and family service agencies
The Council of Southeast PA, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Recovery Support & Older Adults
 Among older adults receiving peer recovery support, over a six-month period,
 94.8% maintained abstinence from substances
 Significant increase in percentage who:
• Achieved stable housing
• Enrolled in school or job training
• Obtained and maintained employment
• Self-reported health as “good, very good, or excellent.”
• PRO-ACT’s Recovery Community Services Program

CRS Credential Requirements
 As set by the PA Certification Board (PCB)
 High School Diploma or GED
 54 Hours Education/Training
• 18 in Recovery Management
• 12 in Education/Advocacy
• 6 in Confidentiality
• 6 in Fields Relevant to Addiction
 Sign & Abide by Code of Ethical Conduct
 Live or Work in PA
 Written Exam
 2 Year Credential www.pacerboard.org

How Are They Funded?
 A few states reimburse for certified peer addiction recovery support professionals
 PA – Several managed care organizations and counties reimburse for CRS.
The Council of Southeast PA, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Where Can I Find a CRS?
The Council of Southeast Pennsylvania, Inc./ Pennsylvania Recovery
Organization - Achieving Community Together (PRO-ACT)
252 West Swamp Road, Unit 12
Doylestown, PA 18901
Phone: 215-315-6644
Message Carriers of Pennsylvania, Inc.
5907 Penn Avenue Ste 215
Pittsburgh, PA 15206
Phone: 412-361-3145
Pennsylvania Recovery Organizations Alliance (PRO-A)
900 South Arlington Ave
Suite 119. Harrisburg, PA 17109
Phone: 717-545- 8929
The RASE Project
100 North Cameron Street
Suite 401-E
Harrisburg, PA 17101
Phone: 717-232-8535

The Council of Southeast Pennsylvania, Inc.
Beverly J. Haberle, MHS, LPC, CAADC
215-345-6644 bhaberle@councilsepa.org
&
Stacey A. Conway, PhD
215-489-6120 sconway@councilsepa.org