ACTivate Your Commitment to Adolescent Care

PNCB’s ACTivate keeps the focus on the adolescent age range and transforms high-quality content through state-of-the-art technology.  You will experience in-depth educational courses at your own pace to accommodate your busy schedule.  After earning the certificates of completion, you can choose to advance further to test for the corresponding, renewable microcredentials and digital badges.  ACTivate represents a fresh way to show employers, colleagues, and others that you are committed to helping adolescents thrive and that you have gained knowledge to support that commitment. Explore all benefits.

Certificate programs offer bite-sized learning at your own pace. You’ll grow your knowledge about a specific topic by accessing education, then pass assessments to confirm what you learned. 

A microcredential is earned by passing an assessment, in which you demonstrate knowledge in a specific skill or specific area of practice.  The focus is targeted and narrow in scope.

With board certification, candidates meet eligibility criteria and bring knowledge to an examination. Upon passing the test for a rigorous body of knowledge, a credential is earned and corresponding letters can be added behind your name.  

Microcredentials and certificate programs are a fast-growing method to demonstrate knowledge and mastery of a specific topic and field.  Our programs are immersive, effective confidence-builders that ultimately make a difference for adolescents.  Enrolling in ACTivate shows your employer that you are committed to delivering the best support to adolescents you encounter in your role.  As part of your plan to enhance your knowledge and skills, download and personalize this justification letter to seek your employer’s financial backing.

No, there are no eligibility requirements to enroll in ACTivate. Whether you are a health care team member or interact with adolescents in communities or schools, if your work supports the care and well-being of adolescents, ACTivate may be the right learning opportunity for you. 

ACTivate offers education that will help everyone who interacts with adolescents to develop or expand their expertise to help youth lead healthier lives! No matter how you interact with adolescents, ACTivate can take your level of comfort and expertise to the next level wherever and however you support adolescents.

Absolutely! Not only will you receive the same educational experience that your future peers do, the certificates, microcredentials, and digital badges will help your resume and employment applications shine. 

Yes! The first certificate program, Core Concepts in Adolescence, is education that will help everyone who interacts with adolescents. Sports coaches, teachers, school counselors, club leaders, juvenile justice team members, and many others will benefit from this education.

Yes! We welcome all international advocates for adolescent health and well-being to participate! The course is offered in English.

Costs are per program within ACTivate, each purchased separately. Core Concepts in Adolescence is the first program. Essential Knowledge in Adolescent Health & Well-Being is the second program. 

• $250 for the bundled course purchase per program
• $50 for a 7-day course extension
• $100 for each microcredential assessment
• $100 for a retest of the microcredential assessment

We offer bulk discounts for group enrollment. For information about available group rates, packages, and discounts, please contact: activate@pncb.org.

There is no additional fee for the digital badge.  It is included in the cost of the microcredential assessment.

The ACTivate Certificate programs do not award credentials. A certificate and microcredential including a digital badge may be earned.

The timed microcredential assessment is 90 minutes.

Once you apply, you will have 90 days to complete the certificate program.

One 7-day extension can be purchased during the 90-day period and will be added to the end of the period.  Extensions cannot be purchased after the 90-day period has ended.

After you successfully finish a program, you receive nursing contact hours (11.5 hours for Core Concepts, and 12 hours for Essential Knowledge) and a certificate of completion. The contact hours are accredited by the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP). If your field is outside of nursing, please check with your certification or licensing body to see if these credits are accepted for your field. 

After you successfully finish a certificate program, you may use the continuing education credits (11.5 hours for Core Concepts, and 12 hours for Essential Knowledge) for your PNCB recertification by self-reporting these CEs in your ReCErt Tracker. 

What is an ACTIvate Program? A program contains courses or learning components that are grouped together to form a certificate program.

What is a course? A course is a component of a certificate program.

What is a self-check question? Questions included throughout the course to encourage learning and are not graded.

Do the courses include quizzes? Yes, quizzes are knowledge checks at the end of each course. A 70% or higher passing score must be obtained for each course in order to move on to the next course.

What is an eHandbook? References and helpful links, tailored to the course content. It includes content of the slides.

What is an eWorkbook? Offers questions for self-reflection, it is not included in all courses and completion of the resource is not a requirement for certificate program completion.

• Brenda Cassidy, RN, DNP, CPNP-PC
• Anne Derouin, DNP, APRN, CPNP-PC, PMHS, CNE, FAANP
• Amanda Dietz, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, PMHS
• Jean Fletcher, MSN, CPNP-PC, PMHS
• Mary Gallagher, DNP, MPH, CPNP-PC
• Charity Gates, MSN, APRN, CPN, CPNP-PC
• Jennifer R. Goodwin, MSN, APRN, CPNP-PC
• Alexis Myers, MSN, RN, CPNP-PC, PMHS
• Kayla Percy, MSN, MPH, CPNP-PC
• Angela Bono Reed, RN, MS, CPNP-PC, AE-C
• Bianca Salvetti, DNP, CNS, CPNP-PC  
• Lynne Sekarski MSN, RN, CPN  
• Kathleen P.  Wilson PhD, APRN, CPNP-PC, FNP-BC, BC-ADM, FAANP, FNAP,  DipACLM