"The IC&RC Prevention Specialist (PS) exam is one of the most difficult exams I have taken in my academic and professional career. Other PS colleagues reported the lack of comprehensive resources to help prepare for the exam. I was privileged to be one of the first to use this Prevention Specialist Study Guide. Compared to other materials, I found this resource to include current substance use trends and prevention models in the field. By using this study guide, I was well prepared for the exam and passed it on my first attempt with a high score. It is my honor to endorse this author, Nicole Augustine, and the Prevention Specialist Study Guide."Heather D. Sharp, MA, CPS, program director, Madison Substance Awareness Coalition"In the need to increase the prevention workforce, this provides a great opportunity to ensure this happens. Nicole has knowledge about substance abuse prevention and stays grounded to the field. This guide will provide the opportunity for individuals to learn the key steps in prevention. I am sure if you utilize this guide, your professional prevention knowledge will increase."Mr Tracy Johnson, TTJ Group LLC"Nicole is known as one of the premier prevention specialists in North Carolina, and is an outstanding trainer and teacher, providing exceptional workshops and seminars across the state on a variety of topics. Her information is always top notch and state of the art, giving participants more than they expected!"Debbie Caton Rogers, executive director, NC Foundation for Alcohol and Drug Studies (NCFADS)"While school certainly prepared me for some aspects of the workforce, others needed some clarity. As a new graduate stepping into the field of addiction, policy, and research, Nicole's book clarified some of those questions and supported me in my efforts to lead diverse fellow professionals, build community relations, and create successful interventions. My confidence in this field is much higher after reading this book, and I'd recommend any new or seasoned professional take some time to read it, too, as I assure you will leave learning something new. This book is not just for prevention specialists, it is for anyone with a passion for public health!"Jessica, social worker"Nicole Augustine possesses an incredibly valuable, yet often, all too rare, combination of gifts: intellectual prowess, insatiable curiosity, compassionate convictions, innovative insights, and engaging communication skills. These remarkable attributes have made Nicole one of our nation's leading, and most effective voices for innovative skills and capacity-building within the substance misuse prevention field. All of these incredible gifts are on full display in this compelling study guide. Doing what she does best, Nicole, saw a need in our prevention field, (a scarcity of practical study resources for those seeking certification in Prevention Science), and decided to apply her decade-plus experiences and subject matter expertise, to produce the best study guide I've read over my close to three-decades-long career in this profession. More importantly, the intimate, engaging, and nurturing communicative tone and style, that is the hallmark of her training and coaching success, is conveyed throughout the writing of this study guide. The reader is immediately drawn into each paragraph and chapter, as if, they are sitting with a close friend and mentor, leading and supporting them on their journey toward certification. I cannot think of a better resource for the prevention professional."Carlton Hall, founder, CEO, Carlton Hall Consulting LLC"This study guide is a long overdue and much-needed resource to empower prevention professionals to achieve certification, which in turn supports workforce development in a field whose value has finally come to the forefront due to the pandemic’s impact on behavioral health. In the nearly 20 years that I have worked as a certified prevention specialist within the U.S. prevention network at national, tribal, regional, and local levels I have seen the profession deepen its evidence base, strengthen standardized knowledge and skillsets for its workforce, and prove its effectiveness by establishing positive change in communities across the country. I have also seen the evolution of the certification exam. When I took it in the 2000s it had a heavy focus on treatment with a minor focus on prevention which resulted in approximately a 50% pass rate. Nearly two decades later the pass rate has barely increased even though the exam is now entirely prevention-focused. The ultimate strength of this study guide is that the author is a preventionist whose expertise spans both grassroots and systems-level prevention programs, making this resource helpful to any role in the prevention field. It will certainly increase the exam’s pass rate and its availability is well-timed for a growing field."Jane Goble-Clark, MPA, CPS, CEO, Promise Resource Network"Nicole Augustine has written a riveting resource guide that will serve the prevention workforce well! This brilliant guide is full of important, and practical information to better prepare prevention professionals for the field, and exam. I have been in the prevention field for over 25 years, and a guide like this would have proven extremely valuable in preparing for my credentialing exam!"Ramona Mosley, MS, CPS, Health Equity Prevention Practitioner
