In the previous steps, your organization formed an Accreditation Coordinating Committee (ACC)—a workgroup of staff, peer leaders, peer workers, and board members who will work on tasks, assess practices, help prepare, and generally manage the work of getting accredited. Your ACC will continue the work it began in the previous step.
Collect and compile key information
As you complete your Candidacy Application and Accreditation Self Study, you will be uploading several documents; you will also need hard copies of these documents later in the accreditation process. Your team should (a) identify a central location on a computer or server to file the electronic documents, and (b) a file cabinet drawer or binder to organize the hard copies. Use the document checklist to gather the required documents.
Complete the three-part online application
The first part of your application is the Organizational Profile.
This online form gathers information to create a “snaphot” of your organization. It starts with information that you will have provided when you registered your organization (which you can edit or update), and adds depth to the data. The profile is divided into seven sections: (1) Basic Information; (2) Profile of Participants; (3) Peer Recovery Support Services; (4) Paid and Volunteer Staff; (5) Facilities and Sites; (6) Governance; and (7) Budget and Finance. The information collected will help the Peer Review Team to get a good sense of the size and scope of your organization.
The second part of your application is the Welcome Walk Through.
The Welcome Walk Through can be an effective tool to gain an understanding of the needs of prospective or new participants. It is designed to simulate a person’s initial contact with your PRSS program, by asking questions about five topics: (1) initial phone contact; (2) ease/convenience in reaching the site; (3) impressions of the site; (4) processes to engage new participants; and (5) overall observations.
Before completing the online questions, someone will need to do a literal walk-through of your site—make the phone call, drive to the facility, visit the site—to experience what it is like to be someone who is trying to find out information and join your program.
After the Welcome Walk Through: Suggestions
- Discuss with peer leaders and staff what went well with the walk through, what didn’t go well or was confusing, and what you would do differently the next time around.
- Make a list of practices that seem to work well from walk-through.
- Make a list of the areas that need improvement along with suggested changes to attempt.
- Discuss how to implement the relevant change ideas— include the perspectives of the peer participant, family member, peer leaders, and staff.
The third part of your application is the Accreditation Self-Study.
In order to be accredited, your program will be required to meet standards in four general areas:” Principles; People; Practices; and Performance”:https://www.manula.com/manuals/caprss/accreditation/main/en/topic/standards. The online self-study tool is organized by domains in those four areas. In it, you will answer questions about criteria for performance under each of the standards, which will help you to examine the strengths and challenges your organization has in each of the domains. At the end, you will receive a brief report on the results.
It will be helpful to involve individuals throughout your PRSS program, including peer participants, in a participatory process to answer the questions in the self-study. Depending on the size of your organization, it may be useful to divide into working groups or to use existing committees to complete different areas of the study.
Pay accreditation process fee
The fee for the accreditation process is to be discussed with CAPRSS Team. Submission of your candidacy application and payment of the fee sets in motion the two key things:
- Your application will be reviewed for completeness. You will be notified by email and asked to submit any missing items.
- Once everything is complete, a Peer Review Team will be assigned. They will begin a review of your application, in preparation for a Peer Review Site Visit.
Establish relationship with key contact at CAPRSS
The CAPRSS contact person will work with you throughout the accreditation process. He or she will contact you to discuss your application, let you know how to access the Site Visit Preparation webinar, and identify possible site visit dates.
Your organization will be asked to designate a person who will be your organization’s primary point of contact (PoC) during the accreditation process.
| CAPRSS Liaison Roles and Responsibilities | Your Organization’s PoC Roles and Responsibilities |
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Set dates for Peer Review Site Visit
The Peer Review Site Visit will take up to two full days. Identify several dates, a minimum of 6 weeks from the date you submit your candidacy application.
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