Meet Shanda - A Community Health Worker
/Community Health Worker Awareness Week is held every year from August 26th to 30th. We’re excited to keep highlighting eastern Washington community health workers all year long! Discover more about these incredible individuals who are making a real difference through their dedication, compassion, and relentless commitment to enhancing community health.
My name is Shanda and I am a Community Health Worker.
What advice would you give to someone interested in pursuing a career as a community health worker?
My advice for someone wanting to pursue community health worker work would be to be empathetic and compassionate, to learn about the community that they live in, and to have emotions that surpass someone else's understanding. No one's going to understand your passion and drive, so it's good to have that. And I think, above all, treat others the way you want to be treated.
What kind of training did you receive to prepare for your role as a community health worker?
I received a 12-week core competency training. The core competency training was intense, especially being new in community health work. However, I think it guided me in a way to truly understand the importance of community health work.
What advice would you give to someone interested in pursuing a career as a community health worker?
If I could give advice to someone in the community health work world, it would be to be empathetic, create boundaries, not barriers, be very intentional in their communication and in their way of facilitating and advocating for individuals or their families, have a level of understanding that really surpasses others' expectations and understandings, and always treat others the way they want to be treated.