Community Health Worker Training Program

Our Community Health Worker (CHW) Training Program helps CHWs with essential knowledge and skills to support health equity and improve community well-being. It helps connect underserved populations with health care systems to address social factors that affect health. CHWs learn how to improve access to care and bridge gaps in public health services in Washington.

Who Can Take These Courses?

These courses are for anyone working or planning to work as a:

• Community Health Worker
• Promotores de Salud
• Patient navigator
• Peer counselor
• Similar positions in community health

You do not need to be currently working in these positions to enroll.

Course Details

• All courses are free and delivered online.
• Most courses are available in English and Spanish.
• Though designed primarily for CHWs based in Washington, the courses are open to anyone interested in our program. You do not need to be physically present or working in Washington. People who supervise or work with CHWs can also take the course.
• We provide a certificate of completion upon successful completion of the course.
• Washington does not require CHWs to be certified, and there is no official certification or credential process.
• If you’re taking our courses to be eligible for reimbursement as a CHW through Medicaid (Apple Health), ask your employer or Health Care Authority which course you need.

Courses We Offer

Follow the links below to learn more about each of the three courses we offer:

• CHW Core Competency Course
  This is an introductory course for people who want to become CHWs. Starting in July 2025, the curriculum is new and teaches important CHW skills recommended by the National C3 Council.
• Health Specific Modules (HSMs)
  These short courses focus on specific health topics like heart health, breast cancer, and vaccines. CHWs can choose from different available topics that best fit their work. It’s a good idea to take the CHW Core Competency Course first, but it’s not required. At this time there are two HSMs to choose from. Additional HSMs will be released as they become available.
• Pediatric CHW Course
  This is a 2-part course for CHWs working with children, youth, and families. It covers core CHW principles while incorporating pediatric-focused topics.

CHW Core Competency Course Information

Course Format

• Learn online at your own pace with fun and interactive activities.
• Available in English and Spanish.
• Include 12 modules each requiring 1 – 3 hours to complete.
• Learners must pass a quiz at the end to get a certificate.
• You can sign up for the course each month.
• Weekly office hours are available if you want extra help.

This course no longer has required webinars.

Learning Objectives

This new curriculum teaches important CHW skills recommended by the National C3 Council, including:

Communication

• Use language confidently in ways that engage and motivate.
• Use plain and clear wording that is easily understood.
• Understand nonverbal cues and use them to make your message stronger.
• Listen actively so you connect with your audience.
• Prepare written communication professionally.

Interpersonal & Relationship-Building

• Explain the importance of interpersonal and relationship-building skills.
• Define, develop and use those skills to establish strong relationships with individuals, their families, team members and partners.
• Understand health care coaching and provide social support to clients.
• Identify and use other relationship-building techniques, including motivational interviewing.
• Understand and practice cultural humility with clients and teams.

Capacity Building

• Explain what capacity building is and why it’s important for CHWs’ work with people and communities.
• Show how to help people and communities set goals to reach their fullest potential.
• Learn and use simple ways to empower people and communities to reach their goals.
• Build strong community ties by making connections, working with others, and creating lasting partnerships.
• Support communities and people in community organization and advocacy for social change.

Advocacy

• Define advocacy.
• Understand what it means to be an advocate.
• Name different ways to be an advocate.
• Understand how to interact with all clients in an appropriate manner.
• Name ways to follow legal and ethical standards.

Education & Facilitation

• Explain why education and facilitation are important for CHWs to improve community health.
• Show teaching methods that help adults learn and make healthy life changes.
• Make and share educational materials that encourage adults to improve their health habits.
• Find reliable health information and learn how to share it with your community.
• Practice building partnerships that support health education and community growth.

Individual & Community Assessment

• Define why community assessments are important.
• List the common roles and tasks CHWs fill and do during community assessments.
• Describe the process of doing community assessments.
• Define why individual assessments and family-needs assessments are important.
• Describe the process of doing individual and family-needs assessment.
• List the common roles and tasks CHWs fill and do during individual and family needs assessments.

Service Coordination & Navigation

• Define the CHW’s role in service coordination and navigation.
• Recognize strategies to identify and develop partnerships with healthcare and service providers.
• Use these strategies to improve client care and delivery of services.
• Understand how to assess needs and create actionable plans and goals.
• Identify strategies to apply resources and connections to provide care and referrals.
• Identify agency protocols and tools to track client progress.

Outreach

• Define outreach.
• Understand why outreach is important to community health.
• Identify CHWs’ roles in outreach.
• Understand how to partner with other groups to increase outreach and access.
• Learn ways to stay safe during outreach.
• Identify ways to overcome common barriers to outreach.
• Differentiate between the specific types of outreach.
• Develop an outreach plan.

Professional Skills and Conduct

• Define the professional skills and behavior essential to successfully operate as a CHW and apply strategies to develop these skills.
• Set and keep boundaries and practice self-care.
• Understand how to stay safe while working in the community or clinics.
• Follow ethical and legal rules and know why they matter.
• Know when to report abuse or safety issues and how to do it.

Evaluation and Research

• Understand the importance of evaluation and research in the community health worker’s role.
• Collect information for research and evaluation and understand what the results mean.
• Work with community members and researchers to plan and do research and evaluation.
• Describe the evaluation, research process, and community health worker roles in the eight steps.
• Record, save, and share accurate information.
• Explain the principles of research ethics.

Knowledge Base: Public Health Principles

• List and explain the basic principles of public health.
• Show how to use the following to understand and support the community that you serve as a CHW: public health, outreach, relationships and assessment principles.
• Understand how you can overcome challenges to meeting the public health principles. And understand how to work within the current system to solve problems.

Knowledge Base: Social Determinants of Health

• Recognize how a person's physical health, mental health, and social life are all connected and affect each other.
• Describe the five domains of social determinants of health identified by the healthy people 2030.
• Recognize how social determinants of health contribute to unequal health outcomes, and the role of CHWs in promoting health equity.
• Recognize the habits and choices that contribute to a healthy lifestyle and self-care.
• Explain how different theories about behavior can help CHWs develop effective messages to encourage healthy habits.
   

---

  Login to your registered courses

  Registration information and schedule

  Office hours

Health Specific Modules (HSMs) Information

Course Format

• Short online courses you can do at your own pace
• Many are offered in both English and Spanish
• Each course takes 1 to 3 hours to finish

Course Descriptions

Family History and Cancer Screening

This course is available in English and Spanish.

This course introduces the importance of family health history as an important tool in identifying inherited risks for cancer and related syndromes. You will learn how to gather and interpret family health information, recognize red flags for hereditary cancer syndromes, and support clients in accessing appropriate screening and preventive care. The course also highlights the role of genetic counseling and common challenges clients may face in preventive health decisions.

Learning Objectives

• Define inherited (genetic) cancer syndrome.
• Define inherited cancer screening and prevention methods.
• Understand common barriers to preventative care.
• Support clients through family health history and cascade screening.

Intro to Trauma-Informed Care

This course is available in English and Spanish.

Trauma can have long-lasting effects on both people and communities. It can hurt relationships, lead to violence, and cause more trauma over time. Sometimes, entire communities go through trauma together. Trauma can also be passed down from one generation to the next. This course will help you understand what trauma is and how to support people using a trauma-informed approach, so you can help your clients better.

Learning Objectives

• Define trauma.
• Define trauma-informed care.
• Understand possible traumatic events and ways people experience them.
• Recognize the effects of trauma on people and communities.
• Demonstrate using trauma-informed approaches to create safe environments and reduce harm.
• Practice ways to keep yourself healthy.
   

---

  Login to your registered courses

  Registration information and schedule

  Office hours

Pediatric CHW Course Information

This 2-part course covers CHW principles while incorporating pediatric-focused topics:

• Part 1: A foundational course, covering the same topics as the CHW Core Competency Course. The content is tailored for CHWs working with children, youth, and families.
• Part 2: You can choose 1 or both of the following specialized tracks depending on your work:
  • Early Childhood Relational Health
  • K-12 Mental and Behavioral Health

Course Format

• Learn online at your own pace.
• Collectively includes 14 modules each requiring 1 – 3 hours to complete.
• 6 modules in Foundations of a Pediatric CHW
• 3 modules in Early Childhood Relational Health
• 5 modules in K-12 Mental and Behavioral Health
• Learners must pass a quiz at the end to get a certificate.
• You can sign up for the course each month.
• Weekly office hours and optional Learning Collaborative sessions are available if you want extra help.
   

---

  Login to your registered courses

  Registration information and schedule

  Office hours

Registration Information

You can now register for our courses every month.

Here’s how it works:

• Registration starts 2 months before the course starts.
• Registration closes on the 23^rd of the month before the course starts.
• You’ll be added to the online course during the first week of the course month.
• You have 2 months to finish the Core Competency and Pediatric CHW courses.
• You have 1 month to finish the Health-Specific Modules (HSMs).
• If you don’t finish on time, you’ll be removed from the course. You can sign up again for a future month.
• If you complete the course, you’ll also be removed at the end of the month.

Example for a course starting in July 2025:

• Registration opens: May 1, 2025
• Registration closes: June 23, 2025
• Learners are enrolled: July 1–7, 2025
• Course must be completed by: August 31, 2025

Space is limited each month, so register early!

Registration Schedule

---

---

Student and CHW Community Resources

Optional Weekly Office Hours

• Optional weekly sessions with a trainer to support your learning.
• Open to anyone taking our courses—Core, Health-Specific Modules, or Pediatric CHW.
• Helps with understanding the course and using the online platform.
• May also be a chance to connect with other learners, depending on who joins.

Office Hours Schedule

English-Speaking Learners

• Wednesdays: 9:00–10:00 a.m.
• Thursdays: 5:00–6:00 p.m.

Spanish-Speaking Learners

• Mondays: 5:00–6:00 p.m.
• Tuesdays: 9:00–10:00 a.m.

Join the Office Hours via Teams during any of the times listed above

• Meeting ID: 299 574 125 222
• Passcode: SE3hy3vt

CHW Community of Practice (COP)

The CHW Community of Practice is a space for CHWs to connect, share, and support each other. It helps CHWs grow their skills, learn from others, and work together to improve health and promote fairness in their communities.

In the COP, CHWs can:

• Share experiences
• Learn from each other
• Talk about challenges and solutions
• Discuss topics from the CHW Core course and other important areas

How it works:

• Online sessions led by a facilitator
• Each session lasts 1.5 hours
• Sessions are offered in English and Spanish (separate times)
• Topics change every three months
• No need to register
• You’ll get a certificate for attending

CHW COP schedule: Available soon

Join the CHW COP now: Available soon