CALMHSA Peer Support Certification Exam 2025
2025-2026 NEWEST!!!!
-CALMHSA Peer Support Certification PT2
-CALMHSA Peer Support Certification PT3
-CALMHSA Peer Support Certification PT4
-CALMHSA Peer Support Certification PT5
-CALMHSA Peer Support Specialist Cert PT6
CALMHSA Peer Support Certification PT2
Stigma against people who use drugs remains socially acceptable and a common place.
Explain an example.
Stigma toward people who use drugs is written into our laws, child protective service
and social service systems. This is despite wide-spread agreement that substance use
is a health condition and not a character flaw.
There are many forms of stigma including:
1. Stigma from a person: Someone using the word "junkie"
2. Institutional stigma: Discharging individuals based on a positive drug screen
3. Stigma by association: When pharmacists or medical providers say "That's not the
population I want in my office"
4. Internalized stigma: Feeling you deserve pain or suffering because you use drugs
5. Drug user stigma is encoded into our laws, child protective service, and social
service systems. Amid unprecedented acceptance that substance use is a health
condition and not some kind of personal character flaw,
6. Drug user stigma has remained socially acceptable and pervasive.
7. Widespread stigma creates huge barriers to accessing what people need to survive
,and thrive, such as care, housing, income, and social services.
8. Internalized stigma is when people believe the negative messages from the outside
world. Internalized stigma means at times you may feel ashamed of yourself based on
your substance use.
Safer Injection Tips
Prepare, solve, hit vein, count shot, test shot, inject and clean up.
SSTIs
Bacterial infection due to skin that wasn't properly cleaned, a missed shot in the
skin/muscle, non-sterile injection equipment or contaminated drug.
Signs of SSTI
Foul smell, increasing size, redness, swelling, tenderness, heavy pus, general
fever/chills, general pain/loss of sensation.
What is the suggested course of action if presented with a wound?
See a doctor for diagnosis and treatment.
SSTI Management
Apply ice or frozen things, elevate, avoid injecting at or below site of infection, do not
squeeze or poke abscess, go to the doctor if it does not get any better after 3 days.
SSTI Prevention
Clean the skin before injecting, use sterile equipment, use safe injection techniques,
band aid over injection site.
What is Harm Reduction?
Incorporating a continuum of strategies including safer practices, harm reduction, and
abstinence to uphold the dignity and well-being of drug users
,What is the framework for understanding structural inequalities?
Harm Reduction
What does 'Meeting people where they are, but not leaving them there' mean?
We Use People First Language
Why is it important to use People First Language?
Stigma is a barrier to care and we want people to feel comfortable when accessing
services
What is the focus of Harm Reduction?
People are more than their drug use and harm reduction focuses on the whole person
What is the criteria for successful interventions and policies?
Health & Dignity
What is an example of respectful health practice?
1. Trauma-informed care is a part of respectful healthcare. Trauma-informed care is
healthcare that recognizes negative life experiences such as incarceration, unhealthy
intimate relationships, loss of loved ones as well as emotional, verbal and sexual
abuses.
2. Gender Affirming or Gender Respectful Language and Care
Verbal forms of Individual stigma
Someone using the words like
1. junkie
2. addict
, 3. trouble maker
4. dangerous
5. useless/worthless
Institutional stigma
Termination of people based on a positive drug screen. Denying School or opportunities
based off a mental health or substance use disorder
Example of Stigma through association
When pharmacists or medical providers say "That's not the population I want in my
office"
Internalized stigma: Example
Believe you deserve pain or suffering because you use drugs
Internalized stigma is when people believe the negative messages from the outside
world. Internalized stigma means that sometimes you might feel ashamed of yourself
based on your substance use.
What is Internalized Stigma?
Internalized stigma is when people believe the negative messages from the outside
world. Internalized stigma means that sometimes you might feel ashamed of yourself
based on your substance use.
What are the effects of Widespread Stigma?
Pervasive stigma removes many barriers to obtaining what is needed to survive and
thrive: care, housing, income, and social services.
Explain 8 Examples of Stigma's related to Substance Use Disorder
1. Individual-level stigma: Someone using the term "junkie"
2. Institutional stigma: Firing people based on a positive drug screen.
2025-2026 NEWEST!!!!
-CALMHSA Peer Support Certification PT2
-CALMHSA Peer Support Certification PT3
-CALMHSA Peer Support Certification PT4
-CALMHSA Peer Support Certification PT5
-CALMHSA Peer Support Specialist Cert PT6
CALMHSA Peer Support Certification PT2
Stigma against people who use drugs remains socially acceptable and a common place.
Explain an example.
Stigma toward people who use drugs is written into our laws, child protective service
and social service systems. This is despite wide-spread agreement that substance use
is a health condition and not a character flaw.
There are many forms of stigma including:
1. Stigma from a person: Someone using the word "junkie"
2. Institutional stigma: Discharging individuals based on a positive drug screen
3. Stigma by association: When pharmacists or medical providers say "That's not the
population I want in my office"
4. Internalized stigma: Feeling you deserve pain or suffering because you use drugs
5. Drug user stigma is encoded into our laws, child protective service, and social
service systems. Amid unprecedented acceptance that substance use is a health
condition and not some kind of personal character flaw,
6. Drug user stigma has remained socially acceptable and pervasive.
7. Widespread stigma creates huge barriers to accessing what people need to survive
,and thrive, such as care, housing, income, and social services.
8. Internalized stigma is when people believe the negative messages from the outside
world. Internalized stigma means at times you may feel ashamed of yourself based on
your substance use.
Safer Injection Tips
Prepare, solve, hit vein, count shot, test shot, inject and clean up.
SSTIs
Bacterial infection due to skin that wasn't properly cleaned, a missed shot in the
skin/muscle, non-sterile injection equipment or contaminated drug.
Signs of SSTI
Foul smell, increasing size, redness, swelling, tenderness, heavy pus, general
fever/chills, general pain/loss of sensation.
What is the suggested course of action if presented with a wound?
See a doctor for diagnosis and treatment.
SSTI Management
Apply ice or frozen things, elevate, avoid injecting at or below site of infection, do not
squeeze or poke abscess, go to the doctor if it does not get any better after 3 days.
SSTI Prevention
Clean the skin before injecting, use sterile equipment, use safe injection techniques,
band aid over injection site.
What is Harm Reduction?
Incorporating a continuum of strategies including safer practices, harm reduction, and
abstinence to uphold the dignity and well-being of drug users
,What is the framework for understanding structural inequalities?
Harm Reduction
What does 'Meeting people where they are, but not leaving them there' mean?
We Use People First Language
Why is it important to use People First Language?
Stigma is a barrier to care and we want people to feel comfortable when accessing
services
What is the focus of Harm Reduction?
People are more than their drug use and harm reduction focuses on the whole person
What is the criteria for successful interventions and policies?
Health & Dignity
What is an example of respectful health practice?
1. Trauma-informed care is a part of respectful healthcare. Trauma-informed care is
healthcare that recognizes negative life experiences such as incarceration, unhealthy
intimate relationships, loss of loved ones as well as emotional, verbal and sexual
abuses.
2. Gender Affirming or Gender Respectful Language and Care
Verbal forms of Individual stigma
Someone using the words like
1. junkie
2. addict
, 3. trouble maker
4. dangerous
5. useless/worthless
Institutional stigma
Termination of people based on a positive drug screen. Denying School or opportunities
based off a mental health or substance use disorder
Example of Stigma through association
When pharmacists or medical providers say "That's not the population I want in my
office"
Internalized stigma: Example
Believe you deserve pain or suffering because you use drugs
Internalized stigma is when people believe the negative messages from the outside
world. Internalized stigma means that sometimes you might feel ashamed of yourself
based on your substance use.
What is Internalized Stigma?
Internalized stigma is when people believe the negative messages from the outside
world. Internalized stigma means that sometimes you might feel ashamed of yourself
based on your substance use.
What are the effects of Widespread Stigma?
Pervasive stigma removes many barriers to obtaining what is needed to survive and
thrive: care, housing, income, and social services.
Explain 8 Examples of Stigma's related to Substance Use Disorder
1. Individual-level stigma: Someone using the term "junkie"
2. Institutional stigma: Firing people based on a positive drug screen.
