The CPP and APP credentials focus on substance misuse prevention.

A Certified Prevention Professional (CPP) is a credential for professionals working in the substance misuse prevention field in Washington.

The process of becoming a CPP is thoroughly explained on the PSCBW website: https://www.pscbw.com/cpp-certification-process-chart This chart helps simplify the steps to gain a CPP.

Individuals seeking to apply for a CPP or APP credential must submit documentation of prevention experience and education in the substance misuse prevention field.

As a Member Board of the International Certification & Reciprocity Consortium (IC&RC), we follow their requirements in regard to reciprocity when a current CPP credential holder in good standing is planning on moving to another state. More information on this process can be found on website Reciprocity page: https://pscbw.com/cpp-reciprocity

A Bachelor's degree is not required to achieve a Certified Prevention Professional or Associate Prevention Professional credential. A high school diploma or GED is the minimum requirement.

Renewal Application: Current CPPs applying to renew their credential for an additional 3-year certification period. Subsequent expiration dates fall on an applicant’s birth date (Month & Day). Recertification Application: A CPP whose certification has lapsed and is applying to regain their CPP credential.

You can no longer identify yourself as a CPP if your certification has expired.

For the 120 hours minimum, Initial CPP applicants may submit 60 hours of continuing education that were completed within the 10 years prior to their application submission date. Official documents such as certificates, official letters, transcripts along course content descriptions, number of hours earned and who the presenters were. These will be reviewed by the Board to determine if they are acceptable for CEHs. The remaining 60 hours of continuing education must have been earned within the last three (3) years. If an applicant is applying for CPP Renewal or CPP Recertification, the required 60 hours minimum continuing education hours must have been earned within the last three (3) years.

Applicants may use college course credit hours toward the continuing education requirements. However, Board approval will be made on a case-by-case basis. Applicants will need to submit the official transcript with number of credits and course content description and presenter(s) for our Board to review prior to approval. Generally, one college course credit = 10 CEHs.

We no longer accept training or teaching prevention professionals.

Webinars are acceptable as long as they are Board-approved continuing education events. Documentation that must be submitted to the Board include a certificate or a letter from provider of the course on official letterhead, course webinar course content description, number of hours completed, and presenter(s) qualifications to be reviewed to gain approval.

We have created a spreadsheet listing many education courses that is available on our website. It is updated regularly. Many courses that have been accepted in the past in drug pharmacology and harm reduction will be listed under the Drug Pharmacology and/or Harm Reduction Education color-coded category. Ethics courses completed must be prevention-specific in content. Many are sources of Ethics training are also listed. Courses that focus specifically on Substance Use Prevention will be listed under the Substance Use Prevention Education category. Examples: Substance Use & Misuse: Prevention & Perceptions Guiding Good Choices, Project Alert, CADCA workshops with substance use prevention education content, and WA Prevention Summit workshops with substance use prevention content, etc. Courses that would be placed in General Prevention Education category include examples of Suicide Prevention, Communities That Care (CTC), CADCA National Academy, Positive Cultural Framework, Strategic Planning Framework, coalition coordination/management, SAPST (Substance Abuse Prevention System Training), some evidence-based curricula, etc. Five (5) hours minimum in Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) education/training must be completed and listed under the General Prevention Education DEI category. Examples of education/training events that focus on the elements below: Diversity is the presence of differences in dimensions of human identity. Dimensions of diversity may include, but are not limited to, race, age, sex, gender identity, gender expression, (dis) ability, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, ethnicity, national origin, immigration status, citizenship, socioeconomic status, housing status, marital status, language, and political perspective. Equity is the fair and just allocation of resources, access, and opportunities in such a way that all persons have what they need to succeed, grow, contribute and be represented in all parts of society. Equity refers not to providing identical resources to everyone but to distributing resources and opportunities based on each person’s needs. Inclusion is the intentional, ongoing effort to ensure that diverse individuals have equitable access and involvement in community and decision-making. As an action, inclusion entails welcoming, supporting, respecting, and valuing diverse individuals and groups for their unique contributions and perspectives, while ensuring none are excluded from presence, belonging, and participation with dignity. NOTE: Category assignments may be adjusted during the Board's application review process.

The 2000 hours do not have to be earned in continuous service. Applicants should document where and when they have accumulated these hours. The applicant will be filling this information in the required Prevention Experience Form(s).

Supervisors are not required to hold a CPP credential to sign off on the Supervised Experiential Learning form.

It is required that an applicant submit a signed Supervised Experiential Learning Form from their supervisor who documents a minimum of 120 hours of supervision with a minimum of 10 hours in each of the six (6) domains. The Domains Checklists for each of the six (6) Domains is signed by a supervisor who identifies the competency level of each skill listed under each Domain checklist. Each form has a separate individual folder within the Supervised Experiential Learning subfolder.

The president or a designated agency/board representative can sign off on the Supervised Experiential Learning Form.

Once an application is submitted, it remains open for twelve months. This allows time for the application to be reviewed by three (3) Board directors. If discrepancies are found, the applicant must quickly address any request for clarification and/or to submit additional documentation to be reviewed again within 30 days of notification. If these discrepancies are still not corrected within a 6-month timeframe, their personal folder is placed in Inactive Status. Applicants whose application was placed in Inactive Status must submit another Intent to Certify form from our website. If an applicant has not uploaded a completed application within 12-month period, the applicant must re-initiate the application process by submitting another Intent to Apply for Certification.

An Intent to Apply for Certification form located on our website must have been completed and submitted. Upon receipt of the Intent form, a personal folder is created on the Board’s secure Google Drive. This folder contains subfolders to upload required individual documents to corresponding subfolders. A direct link and QR Code to access the personal folder is sent to the applicant. Personal folders remain open for six (6) months. If uploading required documents isn’t completed within this timeframe, personal folders are moved to an Inactive Personal Folder for a maximum of six(6) months. Once an applicant is placed there, they must submit another Intent to Apply for Certification noting that they are ready to upload all required documents. If the completed application isn't submitted within the 12-months period, the applicant must begin the application process again.

Once an applicant notifies the Board that all required documents have been uploaded to their personal folder, the review process begins. Once three (3) Board directors have completed their reviews and agreed that their application is complete, it is added to the Eligibility Report to be presented to the full Board at a subsequent meeting for final approval. If an applicant is applying for the Initial CPP certification, this Board approval is for the applicant to register for the IC&RC Prevention Specialist (PS) Examination. Once the exam is passed, the applicant is immediately recognized as a certified PS. Once the IC&RC notifies the Board that the applicant has passed, we will email the CPP Certificate and congratulatory letter to the applicant within five (5) business days. If an applicant fails the exam, they may retake the exam after a minimum of six (6) months have passed. A retest fee is charged. The Board Testing Committee Chair will assist you in registering for the retest.

An acceptable current Criminal History Background Check can be found on the Washington State Patrol website at https://www.wsp.wa.gov/crime/criminal-history/. A current Criminal History Background Check can also be obtained at local Sheriff’s Offices. The current CHBCs must have been completed within one year prior to the application submission date.

The applicant can submit a Contact Us email to notify us of their need for technical assistance. The applicant will be contacted by email or phone by the Board director providing technical support within three (3) business days.

If it is determined that an application is incomplete and requires additional documentation or clarification, the appliicant will be contacted by the Board Eligibility Committee Chair with instructions of what needs to be submitted to resolve the discrepancy(ies). Once the application is found to be complete, the review process moves to the next step.

The applicant must submit the additional documents no later than 30 days from the date they were notified. Not submitting this additional documentation within this timeframe will delay the further processing of their application. Their application will be moved to the bottom of the list of those applicants that are waiting for their applications to be reviewed.

Typical processing time for applications is 60 to 90 days. An application must go through three (3) independent reviews by current Board directors. Our directors are all-volunteer, and typically review 5 –15 applications per month outside of their regular professional and personal obligations. Each review can take as little as 20 minutes, or up to several hours. Please be patient as we do this important work. Applications are processed on a first-come, first-serve basis. If an applicant does not hear from us, this usually means that their application is still in line for review, where there may be a half dozen applications ahead of you. If an applicant would like to request the specific status of their application, they can join us at one of our monthly Office Hours meetings held on the 4th Monday of every month from 4:00- 5:00 PM. They can register on the Home Page of our website, https://www.pscbw.com. We can give the applicant an answer as to where your application is in the review process, i.e., in it's preliminary, 1st, 2nd or 3rd review, whether the review process is completed, and your application has been added to the Eligibility Report slated for our next Board meeting for approval. Please note that out of respect for privacy and confidentiality to all of our applicants, we can only give the details about your application in a private setting. Here are some areas in the review process that can contribute to delays: Possible Delay #1: The required documents uploaded are not named correctly (see the Instructions located in your personal folder). Documents that are normally in landscape mode are not rotated for easier viewing during our reviews. Individual documents aren’t uploaded to their corresponding subfolders. Documents requiring a signature that have not been signed. Possible Delay #2: Did the applicant send us their notification that their application uploads are completed and ready to be reviewed? Our review process does not begin until we receive this notification that their documents are uploaded. Possible Delay #3: Upon receipt of the applicant's notification, the Eligibility Committee Chairperson conducts a preliminary review of all required documents that have submitted. If this preliminary review identifies that discrepancies are present, the following cycle begins and only ends until all requested documentation has been submitted. Possible Delay #4: If there are no discrepancies identified or all discrepancies in the preliminary review have been resolved, the Eligibility Committee Chairperson notifies three (3) Board directors to complete reviews of your application. Should any discrepancies be identified by any or all reviewers during this process, further discussion occurs to determine whether additional documentation or clarification is required. This process is similar to the diagram shown above. Possible Delay #5: Once the review process is completed, your application is added to the Eligibility Report to be presented at a subsequent monthly meeting of the full Board for approval. If the applicant is seeking Initial CPP certification, they will be notified by our Testing Committee Chairperson to register for the IC&RC Prevention Specialist (PS) Exam. If the applicant is seeking CPP Renewal or Recertification certification, they will receive their new CPP credential shortly after this meeting. Our goal is to thoroughly answer this question. Please notify us if there is any additional information that should be added.

The applicant can find two lists of sources that provide prevention continuing education hours on our website at https://www.pscbw.com/prevention-education-sources. For conferences, you will need to submit a conference schedule with keynote/workshop descriptions for those keynotes and individual workshops you have attended circled or highlighted. A Conference CEHs Category Assignments Worksheet is also required. This is what the Board must have to approve category assignments.

It is a valid examination for the IC&RC credentialing process that tests the knowledge, skills and abilities needed for competent job performance of prevention specialists.

Prevention Specialist (PS) is a universal term that the IC&RC established and is widely used. The Certified Prevention Professional (CPP) term is used in Washington. They are synonymous with each other.

The IC&RC has approved testing sites throughout Washington. The cities that are approved in WA are located in Bellingham, Camas, Fife, Liberty Lake, Mountlake Terrace (three sites), Olympia, Pasco, Seattle, Spokane and Yakima.

All questions are in multiple choice format. Questions focus on the six (6) Prevention Core Competencies Domains.

There are 150 questions on the IC&RC examination.

The allotted time to complete the exam is three (3) hours.

The IC&RC has a Candidate Guide for the PS Examination on their website. It is also available for download on our website. There is an additional book on preparing for this exam listed on the Certified Prevention Professional (CPP) webpage under CPP Exam: Test Prep. This book can be purchase through Amazon. Click on the book picture to directly link to the book listing.

A retest is available. The PSCBW Testing Committee Chair will assist the applicant in pre-registering for the retest. An applicant is not eligible to take the PS exam retest until a minimum of six (6) months have passed since failing on their first attempt. There is a retest fee that must be paid prior to pre-registration. If an applicant does not pass the examination, they are provided with the percentages of correctly answered items in each content domain to better focus future study efforts. Remedial education in these areas must be completed prior to reapplying for a retest. The applicant must submit a Record of CEHs Completion form for the remedial education events completed prior to the six (6) months minimum for retesting.

The applicant may request accommodations for taking the PS examination. A Request for Accommodations form is available for download from our website Certified Prevention Professional page. The form link is located on the bottom right side of the page. The completed form must be returned to the PSCBW Testing Chair at least 60 days in advance of the scheduled exam date.

As a professional trade board, the PSCBW conducts a peer review process for: (a) certification of substance use prevention professionals for the Certified Prevention Professional (CPP) and Internationally Certified Prevention Specialist (ICPS) credentials; (b) renewals of individuals who have obtained their CPP/ ICPS credentials; and (c) recertification for those who have had their CPP/ ICPS lapse but are interested in reapplying.

The Prevention Specialist Certification Board of Washington (PSCBW) was established March 6, 2002, as a Washington State non-profit corporation and is a Member Board of the International Certification & Reciprocity Consortium (IC&RC).

PSCBW is an IRS and Washington State recognized non-profit 501(c)(6) organization.

Anyone interested in becoming a Board director must have your current APP or CPP for a minimum of six (6) months prior to joining us. If an individual is or someone they know that might be interested in joining the Board, please forward all contact info to us on our Contact Us webpage.

Certification, renewal and recertification fees are charged to cover application processing, IC&RC membership dues, IC&RC Prevention Specialist Examination fees and ongoing records and data management system expenses.