The Occupational Mentor Certification Program (OMCP), offered by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), was established in response to the dual challenge of a preponderance of substance use disorders (SUD) among individuals in correctional facilities and a significant shortage of alcohol and other drug (AOD) counselors statewide. In 2009, CDCR’s Division of Rehabilitative Programs (DRP) collaborated with the Orange County Department of Education, Options Recovery Services, U.S. Navy-trained instructors, and others to pilot OMCP at the California State Prison Solano.
Specialized Education and Treatment
Extensive education and training allow OMCP participants to harness their lived experience and provide a valued service in their community. Upon selection for the program (based on an application, essay, resume, references, and interview), individuals are grouped together at the OMCP training location to participate in 18 weeks of cognitive behavioral interventions (CBI) as part of the Integrated Substance Use Disorder Treatment Program, which is an opportunity to address their individual treatment needs in a therapeutic environment.
“People with SUD have internal struggles to resolve,” explains Anthony J. Maiden, staff services manager for CDCR DRP In-Prison Programs. “They need to come to grips with their own recovery. OMCP incorporates a parallel process that addresses personal issues, while [participants are] being educated and trained to become AOD counselors.”
After people complete CBI, 6 months of training ensues. This includes an orientation, study preparation and skill building; 350 hours of formal classroom education on the 12 core functions of AOD counseling (Figure 1); and 255 hours of practicum training. Participants fulfill practicum hours by cofacilitating CBI groups onsite at the OMCP training location and by completing training activities provided by the OMCP contractor.
Certification and Practical Training
The next step in the process is preparing for California’s AOD counselor certification exam. The program prepares them well: More than 650 individuals have graduated from OMCP over the years, with an average exam-passing rate of 90.2 percent, exceeding the national average passing rate of 74 percent. With a passing grade in hand, participants—now considered registered mentor interns—are transferred to other correctional facilities to fulfill supervised internship hours required by the state’s certifying agencies (California Consortium of Addiction Programs and Professionals, California Association of DUI Treatment Programs, and California Association for Alcohol/Drug Educators). The mentor interns cofacilitate CBI classes, such as SUD education and life skills programming, and practice mock scenarios in alignment with the 12 core functions.
Figure 1: Core Functions of Alcohol and Other Drug Counseling
Once appropriate documentation of education and supervised internship hours has been submitted to the certifying organization approved by the California Department of Health Care Services, the OMCP graduate receives an AOD or SUD counselor certificate.
Peer Empowerment and Community Reintegration
Throughout the journey to certification, OMCP participants are eligible for Milestone Completion Credits, such as 1-week credits towards time served for every 80 hours of in-seat time during CBI. AOD certification also earns participants 180-day Educational Merit Credits.
But the most significant impact for individuals who complete the program is the acquisition of skills necessary to secure purposeful employment both within prison and in the community upon release. Currently, nearly 400 OMCP participants are paid cofacilitators of in-prison CBI programs, and 250 paroled OMCP graduates work as certified AOD counselors in community or prison programs.
“OMCP is a program that is both transformative and transferable,” Maiden says. “Transformative in terms of the profound change we see in the yards, with other incarcerated people approaching OMCP participants with questions about how to get help with SUD and setting goals. Transferable in the ability of OMCP graduates to take the skills they’ve acquired into the community. They’re supervising SUD programs in hospitals, writing books, and founding organizations to help others make the transition to the community. OMCP is the spark that dispels their hopelessness.”
Since its launch, this popular program has expanded to six additional training locations (Figure 2), widened eligibility to men and women of all security levels, and provided training to more than 1,000 individuals. This growth is likely to intensify as CDCR’s Peer Support Specialist Program (PSSP) evolves.
Figure 2: OMCP Training Locations
Building on Success to Expand Future Opportunities
Prompted by California’s passage of the Peer Support Specialist Certification Program Act of 2020, CDCR is working to build upon and formalize the role that natural-born leaders organically play in providing support to their peers and to foster similar opportunities for others who have the potential to use their lived experiences with SUD, mental illness, or incarceration itself to help others. In May 2023, CDCR became the first correctional organization to be recognized by the California Mental Health Services Authority as an approved trainer of the 17 peer support specialist core competencies. Affie Tamuno-Koko, headquarters chief nurse executive, comments, “PSSP is a pipeline to OMCP and its employment opportunities. Dozens of individuals in our prisons are pursuing peer support specialist certification, and I can easily envision that many of them will consider going further. The experience peer support specialists gather can be of great benefit if or when they apply for OMCP.”
For more information about OMCP, email M_OMCP@cdcr.ca.gov.
For more information about PSSP, email PSSP@cdcr.ca.gov.
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