SOS Trainings

Naloxone training

Interested in receiving compassionate overdose prevention training? Whether you’re signing up as an individual, organizing a staff training for your organization, or coordinating a group session with a club, committee, or community group, we’ve got you covered. Fill out our form with your details, and our Harm Reduction & Outreach Supervisor, Megan Merrill, will reach out to gather additional information and schedule a training that works for you.

CRSW series trainings

We offer all of our courses on Zoom and we are also available to come to your location to train your staff, volunteers or participants. 

Take all of the educational requirements for the Certified Recovery Support Worker (CRSW) credential in approximately one month.

Six classes and 68 hours of education.  All for the low price of $575

*Discounted rates and scholarships are available by application reducing price to as little as $80

  1. Art & Science of Peer-Assisted Recovery 

  2. Ethical Considerations for Peer-Assisted Recovery

  3. Suicide Prevention for Peer-Assisted Recovery

  4. HIV, AIDS & Hepatitis Prevention for Peer-Assisted Recovery

  5. Co-Occurring Disorders in Peer-Assisted Recovery Services

  6. Motivational Interviewing: The Basics

  7. Co-occurring Disorders in PAR

Woman in green quarter-zip and short hair and glasses smiles for a headshot in front of a tree
Eileen Doyle

SOS Training coordinator

edoyle@sosrco.org
Email Eileen With Any Questions

Art and science of peer-assisted recovery​

This 5 day, 30-hour evidence informed highly interactive training is available on Zoom or in-person. Designed as a process of personal transformation to understand peer assisted recovery supports. It will test personal and recovery community norms we have come to understand in the last 20 years of assisted recovery supports and services. This is the latest and most modern and current curriculum around peer-assisted supports and recovery that will transform how we approach our peers, and more importantly, how we truly meet them where they are at and empower them in finding and maintaining recovery.

Ethical considerations in peer-assisted Recovery​

This course is designed for individuals who are working as peers in offering recovery support services. A strong emphasis will be placed on understanding the similarities and difference between values, norms, principles, morals and ethics as well as on learning how to go about making an ethical decision. Other areas to be explored will include understanding the ethical standards for delivery of peer recovery services in your jurisdiction as well as the possibility of differing ethical standards give the location of service delivery (Federally Qualified Health Centers, jails/prisons, hospitals/emergency settings, recovery community organizations, etc.). The training will rely on presentations, exercises and experiential learning techniques. The curriculum development was funded in part by Kennebunk Savings Bank.

Suicide prevention for peer-assisted Recovery

Suicide Prevention for peer assisted recovery focuses on prevention and intervention training using key strategies from evidenced based national suicide prevention and intervention strategies. This class focuses on stigma and recovery community strategies that promote community wide responses to suicide prevention. This program is open to all peer recovery coaches and recovery support workers.

Aids, hiv & hepatitis prevention for peer-assisted Recovery

This training equips peers with a comprehensive understanding of HIV, AIDS, and Hepatitis, including myths and facts about transmission, testing methods, and infection windows. Participants will explore the relationships between HIV, sexually transmitted infections, people who inject drugs, poverty, and marginalized populations, and learn effective prevention strategies for HIV and Hepatitis. The training also provides a clear overview of Hepatitis and its five types, along with prevention and treatment options. Peers will take a deeper dive into harm reduction strategies, including syringe service programs and an introduction to safe injection facilities. Finally, the training addresses stigma and the impact of language, helping participants understand how these factors affect individuals living with HIV and Hepatitis and fostering a supportive, informed approach to peer work.

Co-occurring Disorders in Peer-Assisted Recovery Services

This training focuses on the intersection of mental health disorders and substance use disorders, exploring how they often occur together and how treatment resources can support recovery. Participants will examine how mental health challenges may lead to increased substance use and, conversely, how substance use can worsen mental health symptoms. The training also highlights the role of medication-assisted treatment for substance use disorders, along with individual and group therapy and support groups, providing a holistic approach to harm reduction and recovery.

By the end of the training, participants will understand how mental health and substance use disorders interact and exacerbate one another, learn how these conditions are linked, and gain knowledge of available resources to support and treat co-occurring disorders. Participants will also become familiar with treatment options designed to promote optimal outcomes for those navigating both mental health and substance use challenges.

Motivational Interviewing: the basics for peer-assisted Recovery

“Motivational Interviewing is a collaborative, goal-oriented style of communication with particular attention to the language of change. It is designed to strengthen personal motivation for and commitment to a specific goal by eliciting and exploring the person’s own reasons for change within an atmosphere of acceptance and compassion.”
~ Stephen Rollnick and William R. Miller, Sheffield, UK Oct 2011

This training (offered in 1 or 2 days) is an interactive introduction to the evidence-based clinical method of Motivational Interviewing (MI). MI is an effective approach for the work in peer-assisted recovery spaces-- a client-centered, evidence-based, directive method for enhancing intrinsic motivation to change by exploring and resolving ambivalence. After orientation to the underlying spirit, structure, and principles of MI, practical exercises will help participants strengthen empathy skills, recognize and elicit patient change talk, and roll with resistance.

additional courses:

We offer these courses on Zoom and are also available to come to your location to train your staff, volunteers or participants.

Harm Reduction 101

6 Hours, 1 Day

  • History and guiding principles of harm reduction
  • Overdose prevention strategies
  • How stigma and bias impact access and delivery of services
  • Intersection of race and ethnicity and social determinants of health
  • Culturally responsive systems of care
  • Harm reduction efforts locally, regionally, and nationally

Harm Reduction for Youth

4 Hours, 1-2 Day

  • Conversations with youth about drugs
  • Equipping youth with skills to navigate risks
  • Scientifically accurate drug education
  • Biases and myths
  • Concepts and principles of harm reduction

Revisiting Ethical Considerations for Peer-Assisted Recovery

6 Hours, 1 Day

  • Review role and importance of ethics
  • Challenges using digital platforms
  • Practice following ethical guidelines in scenarios from field
  • Improve one's service

Peer-Assisted Recovery in a Hospital Setting

6 Hours, 4 Days (1.5 hour sessions) or 6 Days (1 hour sessions)

  • Value of peer-to-peer service 
  • How peer specialists fit in Recovery Oriented Systems of Care (ROSC)
  • Role of a peer specialist in a hospital setting
  • How to care for people who inject drugs
  • Services provided by SOS Recovery Community Organization