The Maryland Addiction and Behavioral-health Professionals Certification Board is a private, non-partisan corporation which offers voluntary international and state level credentials to the behavioral health worker. The Board, comprised of certified and licensed professionals and peer recovery specialists throughout the state, implements standards, testing and training for certifying addiction counselors, co-occurring disorders professionals, criminal justice addictions professionals, clinical supervisors, and peer recovery specialists and their supervisors. It also approves providers of continuing education training in Maryland. Links to these documents can be found on the Certification, CPRS, and Training pages.
MABPCB is always looking for board members who can strengthen our service to behavioral health workers in the state. If you hold an IC&RC credential or you have a keen interest in what we are doing, please fill out and send the Board Membership Application to us. We promise to get back to you after our next board meeting. Meetings are usually held every other month, and sometimes more frequently as needed.
MABPCB adheres to a strict Code of Ethics for each credential. Our general code can be viewed here: MAPCB Code of Ethics 2012. Please see each credential application for its own code.
2024 EXECUTIVE BODY
President & Peer Chair - Monica White, MSc, CAC-AD, CCDC, RPS
Vice President - Tiffinee Scott, BA, CJA/HS, CPRS, RPS, CHW, RCP-F
Treasurer - Matthew Brown
Secretary – Michelle Brethauer, RPS, CPRS, CPRS-F
Administrator - Vickie Isedore
2024 COMMITTEE CHAIRS
Credentials & Education Chair – Catherine Abrams, LMSW, CAC-AD, RPS
Criminal Justice Chair – Vacant
Ethics Chair - Vacant
2024 MEMBERS
Sean Augustus, MS, CSC-AD, RPS
Johanna Dolan, RPS
Tina Foertschbeck, CPRS, CRPS-F, RPS
LaTonia Rich, CPRS, RPS
Dr. Paula Smith-Benson, CPRS
Tamara Toney-McCall, MS, BS
Members At Large:
David Barnes, CCDC, CCDP, CCS, RPS, CAC-AD, CADAS
Dr. Almustaphael Al-Kahlil-Bey, MSW, LPC, MAC, CCDC,
History
MABPCB has a long history with the state, going back to the 70’s when a group of counselors were approached to produce a state credential for alcoholism counselors. The state later dropped the idea but the group continued the work and became a certification association in 1975. The association produced its own alcohol and drug credentials until 1989 when it became an International Certification and Reciprocity Consortium (IC&RC) local board, and adopted their credentials. (The IC&RC is an organization with local boards in 25 countries, 47 states and territories, five Native American regions, and all branches of the U.S. military).
In 2002 the state decided to produce their own addiction certification, so the board expanded into criminal justice and training. They also became the sole provider of the state’s addiction counselor test, thus keeping their own certification alive. The prevention certification was also birthed in this era which eventually sprung into MAPPA.
In mid 2012 the state approached the board once again, asking them to submit a proposal, this time for a peer credential. The board had already begun work on a peer credential while simultaneously working on a new Co-occurring Disorders Professional credential (CCDP), based on those the IC&RC already owned. The CCDP became a valuable learning tool for the board as it provided an integrated model on which the peer credential was eventually based and gave the board much needed experience in the grandfathering and application review process, something they had not done in a decade. The CCDP came out in the summer of 2012 and the first draft of the integrated peer credential was presented at an MHA meeting in October that same year.
The Certified Peer Recovery Specialist (CPRS) was presented as an approved credential in November 2013 and grandfathering began March 2014. It is the state credential for peer support specialists, navigators, care coordinators, and recovery coaches who work in integrated care organizations in the state of Maryland. The IC&RC guarantees that Maryland’s peer credential will be accepted at any of their boards that have the same credential. As of April that count is 11 states and Canada, and is expected to rise every year.