Managing Certifications (Formerly Credentialing)

The Manage Certifications tool allows you to manage certifications for your organization in the Certification Portal. Previously managed through NAMI 720 credentialing, certification management is now available directly within the Certification Portal, including additional tools for viewing and maintaining certification records. 

In this guide, you'll learn how to activate and deactivate certifications, understand certification statuses, and manage existing certification records. 

What is this tool? 

This tool is where you manage a person's certification within your organization. 

A certification is NAMI's official approval for someone to perform a specific role, such as leading a program or providing a service. The Manage Certifications tool allows you to view and manage those certifications after they have been issued. Use this tool to: 

• Pause someone's certification, so they stop being offered as a leader for events. 
• Restore the certification when they come back. 
• See every certification one person holds and where the certification is valid. 

Why ‘Pausing’ matters: Only Active certifications make a person available for selection as a leader in NAMI 720 event management. If someone is taking a break, is no longer serving in that role, or should not currently be assigned to events, you can pause their certification. This removes them from leader selection lists while preserving their certification record and history. 

Go somewhere else to: 

• Certify someone new. They need to take the training — see Creating a recommendation. 
• Add someone to your organization. No training involved —  see Sending invites. 
• Count what your organization has done. Total recommendations and/or certifications completed over a date range — see Reporting. 
• Look at your own certifications and materials. That's the read-only page every user has — see My Certifications. 

Who Can View and Manage Certifications? 

State and affiliate staff can see the organizations they’re authorized for and only those records. State Organization staff can see their state and its affiliates; affiliate staff can see their own affiliate. They can change the local records for organizations they are authorized for, but they can never change the leader designation, which is the nationally recognized certification record. 

The affiliate decides who leads its programs; National decides whether the person is certified at all. Because both levels play a role, a certification may sometimes be placed On Hold when additional review or action is needed before it can be fully active. 

Locating records 

Click on ‘Manage Certifications’ in the menu on the left side of the screen (see image below).  

Choose a State Organization or Affiliate that you authorized for. 

The landing page lists every organization you're allowed to manage, grouped by state. Click the one you want or type into Search to narrow the list first. The ‘State Org’ badge marks a state organization’s own entry. 

Clicking on a State Org or an Affiliate will pull up the view for that organization. 

The following screenshot outlines the view once you click on a State Organization or Affiliate. 

1. Breadcrumb navigation appears in line 1—from the Alliance, to the State Organization, and then the Affiliate. Use this feature to navigate back as needed. 
2. Use filters to narrow down records. 
3. Toggle “Show Certification column” to show the certification name (the NAMI Signature Program and the local certification record). 
4. Use the search bar to find a specific program or an individual's records. 

Each row is one certification held by one person at one organization — not one row per person. Rows are grouped under blue bands naming the certification and the role, for example Basics - State Trainer.  

You can click individual organization names to bring up that organization’s data or click on an individual’s name to bring up all of that person’s records. 

Viewing an individual’s records 

Click anyone's name, from any list, to see every certification record they hold that you're allowed to see. 

Using filters and the search bar 

Four dropdowns and a search box narrow an organization's view: 

For State Organizations: Include local affiliate records 

A state organization's page has an extra checkbox on the right: Include local affiliate records. Check it to add every record from every affiliate beneath that state. 

An affiliate with no organizations beneath it won't see this filter. 

Understanding Certification Statuses 

Each record is classified as one of four statuses.  

Every certification has a status that indicates whether the person can currently serve in that role and what actions can be taken on the certification. 

Active means the certification is fully enabled. 

The person's local certification record is active, and their national certification status is also active. This is the only status that makes a person available to serve as a leader. 

You can change the status of an active certification at any time. 

Inactive means the certification has been turned off at the local level. 

The person is not eligible to serve in that role for your organization, regardless of their national certification status. 

Common reasons to make a certification inactive include: 

• The person is no longer leading that program. 
• The person has left the organization. 
• The person has requested to stop serving in the role. 

Making a certification inactive does not delete the certification. The record remains in the system and can be reactivated later if needed. 

On Hold means the local certification is active, but the person's national certification status is not currently active. 

Because both local and national certification statuses must be active, the person cannot currently serve in the role. 

You may change an On Hold certification to Inactive, but only NAMI National can restore it to Active. 

Warning indicates that there is an issue with the certification record that must be corrected before changes can be made. 

While a certification is in a Warning state, it cannot be updated through the Manage Certifications tool. 

If you encounter a Warning status, contact success@nami.org for assistance. 

Turning a Certification On or Off 

To change a certification's status, use the toggle in the Status column. 

• Green indicates the certification is active. 
• Red indicates the certification is inactive. 

On Hold — the National record is off 

An On Hold certification requires action from NAMI National before it can become Active. 

When a certification is On Hold, the local certification is active, but the person's national certification status is not. As a result, the person cannot currently serve in that role. 

Selecting the support icon opens a Request Support window with a pre-written message containing the information needed by the Success Team. 

What You Can Do 

• You can change an On Hold certification to Inactive if needed. 
• You cannot change an On Hold certification directly to Active. 
• Only NAMI National can restore the national certification status required to make the certification Active. 

Contacting the Success Team 

• The Request Support window includes important details such as the certification record, organization, and program information. We recommend using the prepared message rather than creating a new one. 
• Once your request is received, the Success Team will review the certification and determine whether it can be returned to Active status. 

Warning — the record is misconfigured 

A Warning certification indicates that there is an issue with the certification record itself. 

When a certification is in a Warning state, the normal status toggle is replaced with a lock icon. The certification cannot be updated until the underlying issue has been corrected.  

Selecting the lock icon opens a support request containing information about the certification record. 

What You Need to Know 

• Warning certifications cannot be changed through the Manage Certifications tool. The issue must be reviewed and corrected by the Success Team. 
• The certification's displayed status may still show Active, Inactive, or On Hold, but the Warning state takes precedence until the record is repaired. 

Contacting the Success Team 

• If you need to activate, deactivate, or otherwise manage a Warning certification, send the support request to the Success Team at success@nami.org for review. 
• Tip: A Warning certification does not always require immediate action. If you do not need to make changes to the certification, no action is necessary. Contact the Success Team when you need the certification record updated or repaired. 

Permission-Related Locks 

• In some cases, a lock icon appears because you do not have permission to manage that certification. 
• If the certification belongs to an organization you do not manage, the system will indicate that you do not have permission to modify the record. In that situation, contact the organization that manages the certification or the Success Team for assistance.