Peer Support Certification Training

Pricing and Accessibility
This training uses a sliding scale model to ensure accessibility for all.

Participants may choose from three options:

• Community Ticket (Funded): Fully funded through the City of Kitchener and the Waterloo Region Community Foundation.
• Community Contribution Rate ($75): For those able to contribute partially toward program costs.
• Professional/Organization Rate ($150): For those able to contribute the full cost of training.

Please select the option that best reflects your capacity to contribute.

Facilitated by:
Nicole Brown Faulknor, RP, Clinical Supervisor, Trauma Consultant, TCTSY-F

This certification training offers a trauma-responsive, body-first approach to Mental Health First Aid. It is designed for individuals and organizations supporting people in crisis or working within trauma-impacted communities.

Rather than relying solely on cognitive frameworks, this training emphasizes embodied learning — understanding trauma by exploring how it lives and shows up in the body.

TEAO’s Peer Support Certification bridges theory and practice by integrating crisis intervention, preventative care, and systemic impact awareness. Each training is developed in consultation with community needs and informed by trauma-responsive principles.

Training Focus Areas

• Deconstructing Power Dynamics: Exploring how power is held and shifted in crisis situations, and how safety can be co-created.
• Addressing Historical and Systemic Trauma: Recognizing how stigmatization and systemic violence are reenacted in care environments, and learning how to disrupt those patterns.
• Integrated Service Delivery: Practicing de-escalation techniques, trauma-informed advocacy, and effective communication across in-person, community, and digital settings.
• Applied Intervention Skills: Building practical decision-making tools to assess risk, apply trauma-informed verbal strategies, and prevent harmful physical interventions.

Participants Will Learn To

• Support people in distress through trauma-informed and culturally safe approaches
• Reduce unintentional harm in care or organizational settings
• Respond with clarity and compassion during crisis situations
• Understand and mitigate burnout, secondary trauma, and vicarious trauma
• Integrate embodied tools for sustaining personal and professional well-being

Certification

Participants will receive a Certificate of Completion and 12 Continuing Education Credits (CECs) through the Ontario Association of Mental Health Professionals (OAMHP).

Event Details

Winter Cohort
Saturday, January 24 and Sunday, January 25, 2026
1:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Online via Zoom)

Spring Cohort
Saturday, April 18 and Sunday, April 19, 2026
1:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Online via Zoom)
Access Needs: Please email info@teaocanada.com with any accessibility requirements.

About TEAO Canada

The Trauma and Embodiment Association of Ontario (TEAO Canada) creates trauma-responsive, embodied, and equitable systems of care through community-rooted education, peer support, and advocacy.

Vision 2025–2030: Building Canada’s first Trauma Health and Embodiment Centre, a movement of collective care, systemic accountability, and embodied healing.

Refund Policy:
Tickets are non-refundable. However, credit from a cancelled registration can be applied toward future TEAO Canada retreats or trainings.

Website: www.teaocanada.com
Email: info@teaocanada.com