WISCONSIN PARENT PEER SPECIALIST EXAM STUDY QUESTION EXAMPLES
The Wisconsin Parent Peer Specialist Certification exam is based on the Core Competencies. The
following eight sections will give example questions that will test your knowledge within each domain.
Please remember to refer to the Scope of Practice and the Code of Ethics as well as the Core
Competencies. Questions may integrate your knowledge of all core documents in multiple ways.
The example study questions are not duplicates of actual questions on the exam.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS FOR DOMAIN 1
1. During a team meeting, a father you support is being described as “challenging and stubborn”.
You:
a. Don’t say anything during the meeting but tell the father the team’s opinion next time
you meet.
b. Ask the team to come up with more positive ways to describe the father’s attitudes and
behavior.
c. Confront the team in the meeting and consult with your supervisor in supervision.
d. Let the team know that you don’t agree with them and they need to stop the negativity.
2. One universal key component of empathy is:
a. Feeling sorry for someone.
b. Identifying with the person’s situation, behavior, or emotions.
c. Telling the person that they should not feel as badly as they do.
d. Telling the person you have been through exactly the same situation.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS FOR DOMAIN 2
3. A family you are working with presents you with a gift card from a local store to thank you for
your help. You:
a. Take the gift card and thank them.
b. Accept the gift card but re-gift it to another family.
c. Explain to the family you cannot accept the gift and thank them.
d. Tell them that company policy prohibits you from accepting any gifts.
4. Which of the following is a benefit of self-disclosure?
a. Promoting a sense of personal power and acting as a living testimony against stigma
b. Worrying your co-workers more about possible future relapses
c. Illicit pity from others
d. Experiencing discrimination
5. It would be an ethical violation if you:
a. Started an intimate relationship with a parent you are supporting
b. Accompanied a parent to an IEP meeting at a school
c. Assisted a parent with finding employment resources for their child
d. Engaged in conversation about culture with a family you support
SAMPLE QUESTIONS FOR DOMAIN 3
6. One-way to help advocate for families is to:
a. Attend meetings or appointments when asked by the family.
b. Make personal judgments about decisions the family makes
c. Asking the family to read a self-help book that you found helpful.
d. Helping the team problem solve for the family.
7. A role of a Certified Parent Peer Specialist is to:
a. Provide family counseling.
b. Foster self-advocacy.
c. Serve as a sponsor.
d. Help stabilize symptoms.
8. A mother you support has been asked to attend a meeting at the school her child attends. The
mother expresses that she is not comfortable entering the school and asks you to tell them she
will not be attending. You:
a. Notify the school that the mother will not be attending the meeting.
b. Explore options with her so she may ask to meet in an alternative location.
c. Recommend that she attend the meeting despite her personal feelings.
d. Assist the mother in finding a therapist for her own mental health needs
SAMPLE QUESTIONS FOR DOMAIN 4
9. All of the following are components of self-care EXCEPT:
a. Physical health
b. Emotional awareness
c. Rescuing attitudes
d. Spirituality
10. A parent you are working with expresses that they are experiencing extreme stress over a
situation with their child. You:
a. Assist the parent in finding a doctor to talk to about medication that may help
b. Engage in a conversation about wellness strategies that they might find helpful.
c. Provide resources that helped your family in similar times of stress.
d. Share a list of local therapists that can help the parent learn to handle stress better.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS FOR DOMAIN 5
11. A family you are working with asks for help developing a safety and crisis plan. The case
manager wants the family to call the police at the first sign of aggressive behavior from their
child. The family has other ideas. You:
a. Support the family in putting their own ideas in the plan.
b. Ask the family to follow the case manager’s advice.
c. Share your own family’s crisis and safety plan with the family.
d. Educate the family on the role of a parent peer specialist.
12. Identifying specific behaviors to help select appropriate interventions is a product of:
a. Individual Educational Plan
b. Mental Health Diagnosis
c. Functional Behavioral Assessment
d. Crisis and Safety Plan
SAMPLE QUESTIONS FOR DOMAIN 6
13. Stigma and myths about people with Mental Health and Substance Use concerns can cause:
a. Isolation and exclusion
b. Self-stigma
c. Bullying
d. All of the above
14. When assisting families in making informed choices, it is important that they understand:
a. Both positive and negative consequences
b. The difference between Peer and Clinical services
c. Recovery oriented systems of care (ROSC)
d. The Ethics and Boundaries of parent peer specialists
SAMPLE QUESTIONS FOR DOMAIN 7
15. An important aspect to active listening is:
a. Making a decision to listen and reflecting back your understanding
b. Listening with sympathy
c. Keeping the peers goals in mind
d. Responding quickly
16. A Native American family you work with believes that the team is not honoring their spiritual
belief. As a parent peer specialist you:
a. Research information about the family’s beliefs and educate the team in the next
meeting
b. Allow the family to vent their frustration and help them develop a new team of support
c. Assist the family in developing a plan to address their concerns with the team
d. Inform the team of the family’s frustration and ask the team how to proceed.
17. Fostering cooperation between families and service systems can be done by:
a. Advocacy
b. Policy change
c. Consequences
d. Modeling
SAMPLE QUESTIONS FOR DOMAIN 8
18. A parent you are working with has asked to disconnect from all service providers except you. As
a parent peer specialist you:
a. Explore with the parent why they might be feeling the need to do this
b. Explain to the parent that this is not an option at this time
c. Allow the parent to disconnect and keep meeting with them yourself
d. Ask the parent to tell the team why they want to disconnect to empower the parent
19. You just started working with a family. The father refuses to believe his child has any social,
emotional or behavioral concerns. The father believes the child will “grow out of it”. As a parent
peer specialist you:
a. Assist the father in accepting the professional’s diagnosis of the child
b. Let the team address the father, this is not your role as a parent peer specialist
c. Ask the father about his ideas of how he and the team can help the child “grow out of
it”
d. Assist the father in learning the family’s legal rights to refuse services
20. Children may experience changes in brain structures, development, neurochemistry, and genetic
expression due to:
a. Traumatic experience
b. Treatment options
c. Drug and Alcohol use
d. Emotional Dysregulation
Study Guide Answer Key
1. b
2. b
3. c
4. a
5. a
6. a
7. b
8. b
9. c
10. b
11. a
12. c
13. d
14. a
15. a
16. c
17. d
18. a
19. c
20. a