Behavioral Health Workforce Initiative

Com­munity Health Workers (CHW) play an important role in teams that provide social services and behavioral health healthcare to individuals. CHW’s are frontline workers that are trusted members of the community they are serving, often sharing similar cultural, religious, or language attributes. They act as an intermediary between health and social services to help people access services and improve quality of care. CHW’s can provide outreach, education, social support, informal counseling, and advocacy. They are also able to address behavioral health concerns, providing mental, emotional, and substance abuse support while promoting behavioral health integration.

The role of Community Health Workers can vary depending on the community agency or healthcare provider where an individual is employed. Some examples of the types of work CHW’s can provide include:

• Providing culturally appropriate health education and information
• Observe and report changes in behavior, affect, or personal care
• Care coordination and case management for individuals and families
• Helping connect people to community resources
• Provide coaching and social support
• Advocating for clients by providing cultural mediation between health and social service systems
• Build capacity by training people to become their own health advocates
• Provide direct services to individuals under the supervision of licensed healthcare providers
• Work within a care team to provide holistic treatment approaches by bringing cultural context and deeper understanding of the patient’s personal needs

Metro South/West Workforce Board has partnered with funders and employer partners to offer the Massachusetts State Certification course at no cost to eligible participants. Training includes 80 hours of instruction, support services designed to help you succeed, and a completion bonus! Employer partners will be screening/interviewing graduates for immediate placement into CHW roles with a behavioral health focus, such as residential counselor, behavioral health counselor, case managers and more. For more information, sign up for an information session today.

Participants must be at least 18 years of age, able to work in the US and hold a high school diploma or equivalent. Multilingual Individuals with lived experience or a deep cultural knowledge of Latino, Haitian, African, or Portuguese communities is a plus. No prior healthcare experience is necessary. Income guidelines apply.

Sessions are conducted using Zoom. If you do not have a Zoom account yet, please visit zoom.us to create your free account.

If you are interested in becoming a Community Health Worker, and meet the eligibility requirements above, please fill out this form and we will get in touch with you soon. Thank you!