Peer Empowerment Partnership

What is PEP+

The Peer Empowerment Partnership (PEP) is a CAMHPRO program that is funded by the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) and administered by Advocates for Human Potential (AHP) as part of the Behavioral Health Workforce Development.

Peer Empowerment Partnership (PEP) was created by a Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) grant to CAMHPRO to assist in implementing SB803: Peer Support Specialist Certification Act. CAMHPRO has extended the PEP program until the end of 2023.

Following extensive work to promote the passing of a peer support certification bill, CAMHPRO created PEP, a statewide effort to support the rollout of SB803, honoring and amplifying the peer perspective while embracing and uplifting peer support as a mental health and substance use treatment specialty profession.

PEP ensures that the peer perspective is part of implementing peer certification. Peers, or people with lived experience with mental health, in dialogue with policy leaders, shape the expansion of the peer support specialist workforce. PEP's regional trainers provide peer perspective to the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), CalMHSA, county-level administration, and individuals regarding the process of peer certification as it develops.