Become Trust First Certified.
A credential for behavioral health organizations whose communication puts people first. It starts with a three day intensive, is earned through a real assessment, and stays honest through a yearly review.
A seal that actually means something.
Anyone can say they care. Certification proves it. When a family sees the Trust First mark, they know your organization was reviewed by real people against a real standard, and that you keep earning it every year.
Modeled on the credentials families already trust, from behavioral health accreditation to trauma informed care programs, and built for practices of every size.
The Trust First Intensive
A three day live virtual cohort, in small groups of behavioral health teams, with about two hours of self paced work before day one. An in person option is available for larger organizations.
Meeting people in pain
The foundations. Human connection, emotional understanding, and the living room test. How to write like a person instead of an institution, and name what a visitor feels before asking anything of them.
Story and clinical craft
Story integration, clinical balance, and readability. Sharing recovery narratives with dignity, holding authority and warmth in the same voice, and writing for a reader who is tired or overwhelmed.
Conversion with care
CTA readiness and trust signals, then a live scoring workshop. Your team assesses your own site against all eight dimensions and leaves with a remediation plan.
How an organization earns it
Attendance alone is not the credential. Certification is earned through three gates.
Complete the Intensive
Every member of the certifying team attends all three days. Both the pre work and the live sessions are required.
Pass the assessment
Your live site is scored across all eight dimensions. You need at least 80 out of 100 overall, with no single dimension below 6. That floor stops one strong area from hiding a weak one.
Implement and verify
You put the recommended changes live and submit them for review. A Trust First assessor confirms they are real before the seal is issued.
Organizations that finish the training and score between 60 and 79 receive a Trust First In Progress status, with a 90 day window to make changes and re-score.
Staying compliant, year round.
Certification is a living commitment, not a one time badge. Your seal carries a certified through date, so the public always knows it is current.
- Every year: a lightweight re-assessment of your live site against the eight dimensions, still clearing the 80 out of 100 bar.
- Eight Trust Hours a year of workshops and refreshers, with at least two hours on representing people in crisis responsibly.
- An annual attestation to the Code of Standards, plus a renewal fee.
- Every three years: a full re-survey against the updated standard.
The Code of Standards
Six principles every certified organization signs, and re-affirms each year.
We speak to people, not prospects
Our communications lead with the person’s humanity and pain before any ask.
We tell the truth about treatment
No false promises, no hidden pricing, no exaggerated outcomes. Every claim is real and verifiable.
We protect the stories we tell
Recovery narratives are shared with consent and dignity, never for manipulation.
We make it safe to reach out
Our calls to action reduce fear and shame instead of applying pressure.
We meet people where they are
Our content is readable, accessible, and written for someone in distress.
We keep earning it
We re-assess our communications every year and hold ourselves to an evolving standard of emotional safety.
Certification tiers
Built to be reachable for a solo practice and serious enough for a multi site network. Figures below are starting points, confirmed after your assessment.
Practitioner
- Individual therapists and small practices
- One to two Intensive seats
- Full eight dimension assessment
- The seal, with annual rescore
Practice
- Established organizations, one location
- Up to five Intensive seats
- Assessment plus implementation review
- Seal, annual rescore, Trust Hours library
Multi-site
- Networks and multi location providers
- Large cohort and in person option
- Dedicated assessor, per location scoring
- Priority re-survey
Certification begins with your score.
Request your free assessment first. It shows you exactly where you stand, and where certification would take you.