Skip to main content

Community Health Worker

Interested in a career helping and serving?

A community health worker (CHW) is a frontline public health worker who is a trusted member of and/or has an unusually close understanding of the community served. This trusting relationship enables them to serve as a liaison between health and social services and the community to facilitate access to services and improve the quality and cultural competence of service delivery. A CHW also builds individual and community capacity by increasing health knowledge and self-sufficiency through a range of activities such as outreach, community education, informal counseling, social support, and advocacy.

The Community Health Worker program is approved by the CT Department of Public Health (DPH). It will prepare you to apply for DPH community health worker certification by teaching you to connect positively to the served community, help others find access to healthcare and social services, manage cases and coordinate care, and coach and promote good health among those you work with.

In This Course You'll Learn To:

  • analyze health issues and inequalities from public health and cultural perspectives
  • summarize the process of community organizing, advocacy, and policy development as appropriate to the scope of practice for community health workers
  • discuss and demonstrate non-clinical health assessments, advising, and service coordination planning and client-centered counseling
  • assess and apply professional skills including the establishment of goals for internship placement, ethics, and scope of practice, professional boundaries, cultural humility, and self-care practices.
  • evaluate health care delivery systems including eligibility and community resources in order to provide appropriate linkage services to clients.
  • describe and demonstrate mastery of cultural humility principles and practice in working with diverse clients and communities.
  • design, prepare and facilitate a group health education training or presentation demonstrating effective group-level teamwork and conflict resolution skills.

Admission Requirements:

  • Must be at least 18 years of age

Certification Process for a CHW Through CT DPH:

  • Has a minimum of two thousand (2,000) hours of paid or unpaid experience as a community health worker;
  • Submits a professional reference from an employer with direct knowledge of the applicant's experience as a community health worker
  • Submits a reference from a member of the community with direct knowledge of the applicant's experience as a community health worker

Upcoming Courses

Next Steps

man smiles while working on his laptop

Find Your Course

Use our course finder to get info about upcoming classes including dates, times, locations, and more. (Select WFD/CE 2024-2025 for summer, fall and winter courses.)

Register

Registering for a course is easy and can be done in-person, online, or by mail.

Learn About Funding Options

Many of our courses have funding options available for qualifying students.

The Community Health Worker program is approved by the Department of Public Health, 410 Capitol Ave., Hartford, CT 06134, 860-509-8000