...
Back

Certified Prevention Specialist Training Series

Join us for our Certified Prevention Specialist (CPS) Training Series, a multisession, skill-building experience designed to strengthen substance use prevention work across Central Oregon. Offered completely FREE, this series provides high-quality professional development for both new and experienced prevention practitioners.

Participants can attend any of the four trainings, gaining practical tools in prevention science, prevention ethics, community engagement, and the Strategic Prevention Framework. Each training aligns with CPS competency areas and supports progress toward Oregon’s Certified Prevention Specialist credential.

Additional Participant Benefits:

  • Professional networking
  • CPS credential information & preparation
  • Additional learning resources and support
  • CEUs certified by MHACBO
  • Lunch provided for all trainings

Who Should Attend:

Prevention specialists, coalition staff, youth-serving professionals, educators,
behavioral health teams, and community partners committed to strengthening
substance use and behavioral health prevention efforts. Free lodging is available
for those traveling more than an hour from the training location.

Pharmacology of Substance Use and Misuse

  • October 14 , 2026
  • Virtual
Learn More

Prevention Ethics

  • October 22-23 , 2026
  • Virtual
Learn More

Prevention Core Competencies

  • November 4-6, 2026
  • Newport, OR
Learn More

Community Mobilization

  • December 9-11, 2026
  • Newport, OR
Learn More

Prevention Ethics

  • January 21-21 , 2027
  • Virtual
Learn More

Community Mobilization

  • TBD - Spring 2027
  • Pendleton, OR
Learn More

A crash course in substances and the brain, designed for people on the front lines of prevention and recovery.

Why does inhaling a drug affect the brain differently than swallowing or injecting it? Why can the same dose feel different on day one versus day sixty?

Why do approaches like “just say no” or “lock them up” fail to account for what is happening in the brains of people who use substances?

This full-day intensive answers these questions and dozens more. It takes a deep dive into pharmacology and neuroscience and packs it into one high-energy, engaging session.

You’ll leave with a working knowledge of:

  • Reward-system neuroscience
  • Neurotransmitters
  • Tolerance and withdrawal
  • Routes of administration
  • Major drug categories, from stimulants and opioids to alcohol and beyond.

Led by 25-year veteran trainer Nigel Wrangham, this is dense material delivered with humor, humanity, and zero pretension.

Continuing Education:

6 CE hours will be issued upon completion. These hours may be applied toward the CPS-required 24 hours in the ATOD Drug Education category.

  • Date:

October 14, 2026

  • Location:

Virtual

  • Trainer

Nigel Wranagham

Register Here

Meet Your Trainer

Nigel Wrangham has been a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor since 2000. He’s been a preschool teacher, counselor for federal prisoners on parole, and a freelance illustrator. When he worked in Uganda studying wild chimpanzees, he taught forest conservation to young people in local villages. He has served as the National Youth Coordinator for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), and is a certified Master Level Trainer for CADCA, where he develops curriculum and mentors young trainers in prevention and public health. His passion is supporting young people to build the equitable, just, and healthy society they deserve. He works with groups across the United States, sharing skills in prevention, social justice, brain development, and youth leadership.

FREE virtual Ethics training October 22nd & 23rd, 2026 via Zoom from 9am – noon. 

Strengthen your ability to navigate real‑world ethical challenges in substance use prevention. Topics include ethics frameworks, professional boundaries, cultural humility, and decision‑making. This training fulfills the CPS ethics requirement.

 

  • Date:

October 22-23, 2026

  • Location:

Virtual

  • Trainer

Debby Jones

Register

Meet Your Trainer

Nigel Wrangham has been a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor since 2000. He’s been a preschool teacher, counselor for federal prisoners on parole, and a freelance illustrator. When he worked in Uganda studying wild chimpanzees, he taught forest conservation to young people in local villages. He has served as the National Youth Coordinator for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), and is a certified Master Level Trainer for CADCA, where he develops curriculum and mentors young trainers in prevention and public health. His passion is supporting young people to build the equitable, just, and healthy society they deserve. He works with groups across the United States, sharing skills in prevention, social justice, brain development, and youth leadership.

Build a foundation in evidence-based prevention practice. Topics include: prevention science, risk and protective factors, cultural responsiveness, planning & logic model, evaluation basics, and ethics.

  • Date:

November 4-6, 2026

  • Location:

Newport, Oregon

  • Trainers

Debby Jones & Cyndy Hillier

 

Register

Learn strategies to engage partners and strengthen community-driven prevention efforts. Topics include: community readiness, coalition-building, stakeholder engagement, inclusive collaboration, and sustainability.

  • Date:

December 9-11, 2026

  • Location:

Newport, OR

  • Trainer

Nigel Wranagham

Register Here

Meet Your Trainer

Nigel Wrangham has been a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor since 2000. He’s been a preschool teacher, counselor for federal prisoners on parole, and a freelance illustrator. When he worked in Uganda studying wild chimpanzees, he taught forest conservation to young people in local villages. He has served as the National Youth Coordinator for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), and is a certified Master Level Trainer for CADCA, where he develops curriculum and mentors young trainers in prevention and public health. His passion is supporting young people to build the equitable, just, and healthy society they deserve. He works with groups across the United States, sharing skills in prevention, social justice, brain development, and youth leadership.

FREE virtual Ethics training January 20th & 21st, 2027 via Zoom from 9am – noon. 

Strengthen your ability to navigate real‑world ethical challenges in substance use prevention. Topics include ethics frameworks, professional boundaries, cultural humility, and decision‑making. This training fulfills the CPS ethics requirement.

 

  • Date:

January 20-21, 2027

  • Location:

Virtual

  • Trainer

Debby Jones

Register

Meet Your Trainer

Nigel Wrangham has been a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor since 2000. He’s been a preschool teacher, counselor for federal prisoners on parole, and a freelance illustrator. When he worked in Uganda studying wild chimpanzees, he taught forest conservation to young people in local villages. He has served as the National Youth Coordinator for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), and is a certified Master Level Trainer for CADCA, where he develops curriculum and mentors young trainers in prevention and public health. His passion is supporting young people to build the equitable, just, and healthy society they deserve. He works with groups across the United States, sharing skills in prevention, social justice, brain development, and youth leadership.

Learn strategies to engage partners and strengthen community-driven prevention efforts. Topics include: community readiness, coalition-building, stakeholder engagement, inclusive collaboration, and sustainability.

  • Date:

November 16-18, 2026

  • Location:

Pendleton, OR

  • Trainer

Nigel Wranagham

Register Here

Meet Your Trainer

Nigel Wrangham has been a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor since 2000. He’s been a preschool teacher, counselor for federal prisoners on parole, and a freelance illustrator. When he worked in Uganda studying wild chimpanzees, he taught forest conservation to young people in local villages. He has served as the National Youth Coordinator for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), and is a certified Master Level Trainer for CADCA, where he develops curriculum and mentors young trainers in prevention and public health. His passion is supporting young people to build the equitable, just, and healthy society they deserve. He works with groups across the United States, sharing skills in prevention, social justice, brain development, and youth leadership.

Build a foundation in evidence-based prevention practice. Topics include: prevention science, risk and protective factors, cultural responsiveness, planning & logic model, evaluation basics, and ethics.

  • Date:

September 22-25, 2026

  • Location:

Oxford Suites
2400 SW Court Place
Pendleton, OR 97801

  • Trainers

Debby Jones & Cyndy Hillier

 

Interest Form

Apply the Strategic Prevention Framework to plan and implement effective prevention initiatives. Participants gain tools for assessment, capacity building, planning, implementation, and evaluation of substance use prevention programs and initiatives.

  • Date:

August 10-12, 2026

  • Location:

Eagle Crest Resort Redmond, OR

  • Trainer

Heather Tang & Clair Raujol

Register

Meet Your Trainer

Nigel Wrangham has been a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor since 2000. He’s been a preschool teacher, counselor for federal prisoners on parole, and a freelance illustrator. When he worked in Uganda studying wild chimpanzees, he taught forest conservation to young people in local villages. He has served as the National Youth Coordinator for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), and is a certified Master Level Trainer for CADCA, where he develops curriculum and mentors young trainers in prevention and public health. His passion is supporting young people to build the equitable, just, and healthy society they deserve. He works with groups across the United States, sharing skills in prevention, social justice, brain development, and youth leadership.

Learn strategies to engage partners and strengthen community-driven prevention efforts. Topics include: community readiness, coalition-building, stakeholder engagement, inclusive collaboration, and sustainability.

  • Date:

July 6-8, 2026

  • Location:

Eagle Crest Resort Redmond, OR

  • Trainer

Nigel Wranagham

Register Now

Meet Your Trainer

Nigel Wrangham has been a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor since 2000. He’s been a preschool teacher, counselor for federal prisoners on parole, and a freelance illustrator. When he worked in Uganda studying wild chimpanzees, he taught forest conservation to young people in local villages. He has served as the National Youth Coordinator for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), and is a certified Master Level Trainer for CADCA, where he develops curriculum and mentors young trainers in prevention and public health. His passion is supporting young people to build the equitable, just, and healthy society they deserve. He works with groups across the United States, sharing skills in prevention, social justice, brain development, and youth leadership.

Let's Talk Cannabis

Missed the webinar: Supporting Conversations with Parents and Youth?

The recording is now available by request.

The webinar covers how to use Let’s Talk Cannabis Oregon materials to support prevention conversations with parents, caregivers, and youth. A companion toolkit with practical tips, sample language, and strategies for strengthening parent–teen conversations about cannabis and other substance use risks is also available. We are encouraging all organizations that work with families to use Let’s Talk Cannabis materials as a resource to prevent youth substance use.

For

This webinar is designed for youth- and family-serving providers, including educators, school counselors, nurses, prevention specialists, community-based organizations, coalitions, and other partners who work with families.

Learn

Participants will learn how to use Let's Talk materials strategically, adapt messages for local communities, and support parent-teen conversations about cannabis, opioid misuse, and other substance use risks.

Apply

The training will also introduce practical behavior-change strategies that providers can use to strengthen prevention messaging, increase resource visibility, and activate trusted messengers across school and community

Request Recording & Toolkit
Seraphinite AcceleratorOptimized by Seraphinite Accelerator
Turns on site high speed to be attractive for people and search engines.