February 14, 2024 • 44 mins
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Embark on a transformative journey with Tasha Whitaker, a seasoned Community Health Worker whose heart beats for public health education and advocacy. From her initial dreams of trauma nursing to becoming a beacon of hope and change within her community, Tasha's story is a testament to the power of passion and persistence. Uncover the nuanced dynamics of Community Health Workers, the unsung heroes who bridge gaps between healthcare systems and the people they serve. Our conversation is a deep dive into how these trusted liaisons navigate complex webs of resources, while also highlighting the serendipitous nature of career opportunities that can arise from the most unexpected of places.
You’ll Learn
- What a community health worker (CHW) is and how they work to better community health through building relationships within the community
- Tasha’s experience with landing a job as a CHW right out of undergrad
- The skillsets needed to be successful in community health work
- Qualifications needed to become a CHW and how they differ depending on where you’re located
- Other pathways that are available for CHWs such as in research, clinical roles, and management and how skills learned from being a CHW prepare you for other roles
- Tasha’s transition from ground work to training others to starting her own professional development company and the work she does now with Crew Wellness LLC
Today’s Guest
Tasha Whitaker is the CEO of Crew Wellness LLC, a Wellness Education Training & Professional Development Company which she founded after a decade of work experience leading in healthcare roles that have impacted federal, state and local public health organizations. Tasha has been featured on ABC 25, KYTX, CBS DFW and highlighted in magazine and print articles for her community engagement and public health expertise. She is sought after for her ability to improve community engagement outcomes through wellness interventions, strategic processes, and training thousands of Community Health Workers to deploy health education for communities nationally. Through her company Crew Wellness she is impacting not only the communities being served, but also the Crew (staff) providing the services to ensure wellness is prioritized so they can continue to contribute to the positive health outcomes for communities. Tasha regularly consults for companies wishing to gain deeper connections with communities by providing relevant, fun and engaging professional development training to the crew so they can serve equitably and provide a stellar service to the communities they serve.
Resources
- Connect with Tasha on LinkedIn
- Learn more about Crew Wellness LLC
- For Americans, learn more at the National Association of Community Health Workers
- Learn more about American state policies
- For Canadians, learn more at the Community Health Workers Network of Canada
Join The Public Health Career Club: A global membership community where public health professionals connect, learn, and support each other in building meaningful and impactful careers.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
They are that trusted individual.
They built trust with thecommunity.
They know how to communicatewith them.
They know all of the ins andouts of what's going on and how
to really make impact and shiftmindsets and help lead
individuals to those resources.
So, community health worker atheart, they are that individual
(00:20):
that is helping to increase thecapacity of what their community
could be and bring others alongwith them to make impact.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Welcome to PH Spotlight, a community for you
to build your public healthcareer with.
Join us weekly right here, andI'll be here too.
Your host, sujani Siva from PHSpot.
Hi, tasha, and welcome to thePH Spot podcast.
So wonderful to have you herewith us today.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Hello, thank you so much for having me so glad to be
able to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I was thinking about a topic to actually like write
about, and it was about how youcan use LinkedIn to network, and
I think this is a classicexample of that, because you and
I met on LinkedIn.
You know, we recognizeeveryone's profile picture and
that's how we associate names, Ithink, to the individual, and
so for me it was a picture.
I'd see you in the comments,I'd see your posts and then
(01:22):
eventually, I think we connectedwith each other and started
messaging each other, and thenhere we are.
So I think you know, networkingthrough LinkedIn definitely
works.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
I definitely agree.
I, you know, love the contentthat you put out for public
health workers and I'm veryexcited to be able to share the
journey and allow that to besomething to help others
catapult their career.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
So, yeah, definitely believe in networking, yeah, and
I'm excited to get into it.
And I think there is no betterperson than you to talk about
being a community health worker,because I think you kind of
have lived it, breathed it, andthat's that's where your world
is at currently and I thinkwe'll get into that piece in a
(02:08):
little bit.
But I think for any of ourlisteners who are maybe starting
off in public health or areeven maybe looking to transition
into a different line of workand they see this role as a
community health worker and Ithink it'll vary depending on
where you are a community healthworker, but just high level
(02:29):
when somebody sees that rolecommunity health worker what can
they expect in that?
Like, what is a communityhealth worker?
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Yeah.
So this is a topic I'm verypassionate about.
So I've been a community healthworker, I truly believe, all my
life.
As far as my career, I beganthis work about 15 years ago and
a community health worker is afrontline public health worker.
They are that trusted person inthe community that has an
(03:00):
understanding of what and whothe community is, and so many
times I like to break it downLike the person in your
community who's at the cornerstore and they know everybody by
name, they know everythingthat's going on, they know how
to motivate those individuals tomake change in the community.
(03:21):
They are liaison.
They're that person that you goto for advice.
They are in the community bootson the ground to help improve
the quality and the structure ofthat community.
Apha has the definition that acommunity health worker is a
frontline public health workerwho is a trusted member of the
(03:42):
community.
They have an unusually closeunderstanding of the community
served.
So when you think about what aCHW is, you think about that
person in your community who isthe grandmother or who is the
aunt, or who is that person atthe church or who owns a
business in that community thatis connected and linked in with
(04:03):
everybody.
That's what a CHW is Okay.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
So I think in my head I was thinking you had to have
a specific education path inorder to become a community
health worker, but it soundslike you don't.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
No, not necessarily.
You know, when we think about acommunity health worker, every
state is different.
I know we'll probably get intothis.
Every state runs differently,but the perspective of which I'm
speaking of is, at the heart.
A community health worker isthat individual who is probably
already serving.
You know many times theindividuals that I have trained.
(04:41):
They've already been doing thework.
They just don't necessarilyhave that certification and that
, above all, is truly what makesa community health worker.
They are that trustedindividual.
They built trust with thecommunity.
They know how to communicatewith them.
They know all of the ins andouts of what's going on and how
to really make impact and shiftmindsets and help lead
(05:04):
individuals to those resources.
So you know a community healthworker at heart, they are that
individual that is helping toincrease the capacity of what
their community could be andbring others along with them to
make impact.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Maybe I think we can understand this role a little
bit more by hearing your ownpersonal journey and maybe if
you can recall years back and Ithink you said 15 years or more
when did you first learn aboutthis field of public health and
maybe even, you know, decidedthat you wanted to be a
(05:40):
community health worker and getinto this field?
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah.
So, believe it or not, I wentto school wanting to be a nurse.
I wanted to be a trauma nurse.
I want to be a trauma flightnurse.
That was my goal.
So I'm way off the path of whatI thought I wanted to do and
that came through, you know,once I started getting deeper
into my courses at my universityand once I got to like the
(06:06):
health education, healthpromotion course, I really
learned the other side of whatthat looked like of helping
individuals through preventionand education, and that's what I
feel in love with.
So after graduation, my firstjob it was in health education
(06:28):
and health promotion and throughthat job that's how I became a
certified community healthworker here in the state of
Texas, and so that's when I wasintroduced to the role.
When I was in school I did nothear that term community health
worker.
It was all about healtheducation, health educator.
And then, once I got into thefirst job, that's when I became
(06:50):
a CHW and absolutely fell inlove with the field of community
health workers and what we wereable to do and the impact that
we were able to do as a team inthe community going out into the
community and servingindividuals, informing them of
the resources right in theirbackyard that they did not know
(07:12):
about.
I mean literally right in theirbackyard that they did not know
about.
And so at this clinic in whichI worked at the specialty with
diabetes education, and so inthe African-American community,
diabetes is a very seriouschronic disease and so right
once I got into the educationpart, me and my team and my
(07:34):
colleagues, we really loved whatwe were doing and we came at it
from a perspective of community, meaning a lot of our courses
and our classes were nottraditional.
We had dancing, we had linedancing, we had potlugs, we did
all of these things.
That was almost kind of like amini family reunion when we
(07:58):
would hold our classes, becausethat's how our community related
to us.
And I think that when you thinkabout the work that community
health workers do and how theyare able to make impact, that's
it.
They are able to connect withindividuals differently than
maybe a physician or a nurse orthe social worker or others.
(08:22):
And those people were on ourteam.
We were a multidisciplinaryteam but our role was really to
build that trust so that theywould make their appointments,
so that no shows would decrease,so that they had a reason to
come to the clinic, so that wewere able to provide them that
supplemental support in thosehealth education classes.
(08:43):
So that's kind of how my careerstarted, with CHWs and being
trained as a CHW quite some timeago.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
And is that how typically you were getting to
the community members by hostingevents that they would then
attend?
Or was there also kind of likethe flip side, where you would
go and attend events being heldin the community as well?
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Yes, both, because in order to build trust, it's not
just them coming to us, it's usgoing out to them too.
So when they would host eventsat their church or when they
would host events in thecommunity, we showed up as a
vendor.
We brought screenings, weprovided health education
pamphlets to those individualsbecause we needed to be visible,
(09:30):
right.
We just can't expect for themto come to us.
We also have to go out into thecommunity, and that was a huge
part of the work that we did.
As well is outreach.
How are you connecting withthose individuals?
And I will say to CHWs, orstudents that are in class to
become a CHW, or even employerswhen you think about the impact
(09:55):
that your CHWs can make, it willbe unconventional.
It's not going to fit inside ofa box in which you may think,
because each community isdifferent.
I'm talking about the communitythat I served in South Dallas
here in Texas, right, and thatwould probably be very different
than somewhere in another state.
And so you have to trust thoseCHWs to know how to interact
(10:20):
with their community and worktogether to be able to come up
with a plan that's gonna be bestimpactful for those individuals
.
And also, through building thattrust, you're able to bring in
those individuals to give youfeedback of the gaps.
Maybe you're not seeing on theother side and we did that a lot
(10:41):
we collaborated with ourpatients, with our community
members that, hey, we reallywanna host this heart health
event at our church, but wethink that maybe we need to have
a DJ, maybe we can offer somefresh fruits and vegetables,
bring in the food pantry.
(11:02):
We have to be able to listen tothose and maybe the way in
which you would do it isdifferent, and that's okay
because, at the end of the day,we're making impact and we're
working together and you'll beable to see something very, very
beautiful and impactful whenyou're able to listen to others
(11:23):
and allow them to lead in theway in which they think and
really, which they know is onceimpactful.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
That's beautiful and it sounds like one of the best
roles to be in, right out ofschool to really experience
public health like on the ground.
And I'm curious you're a newgrad.
I'm assuming that you had verylittle work experience when you
were applying to this role andyou were kind of like looking at
(11:54):
the job description and thenyou ended up getting the role
and you're starting there.
Did you feel like you had theskill set to be a community
health worker?
I guess I'm asking forindividuals who might be in your
shoes, who are maybe like newlygraduating and they're thinking
, oh, I don't know if I couldactually like do this role.
(12:16):
It involves a lot of skills toreally be able to embed yourself
within community and it's notsomething that's taught in the
classroom.
It's something that you have toexperience and you have to
learn.
I'm curious to hear kind of howyou set yourself up for success
during those early years.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Thank you for that question.
I didn't expect to share thispiece and I'm gonna share it.
So my approach was once Igraduated school I had a hard
time finding a job right afterschool, so I actually went into
teaching.
I quickly learned that was notmy ministry.
Okay, pre-k in first grade, noway out.
(12:55):
So love teachers.
Everybody in my family ismostly teachers.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Love them love them.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
I love to teach, but I am not a great school teacher.
But that's what I did for abouta year, and then my sister
actually told me about thisposition because she saw the
work that they were doing on thenews and she was like you know,
you should really go and checkit out.
And so I did.
I'm the type of person you knowI'm going to do my research,
(13:24):
and I did, and I felt like thebest way for me to see if this
was something that I wanted todo would be for me to go to one
of their events, and so I did.
I went to one of theircommunity events in Cognito.
Like you know, one knew me.
I just wanted to see like whatit looked like, like what did a
(13:44):
health fair look like that theywere running?
And I did, and I absolutelyloved it.
Well, when I went there, I thenwent back, probably like a week
later, and I went to try andconnect with someone who could
get me connected to, who Ineeded to be connected to.
So I literally went up therelike one, a random day of the
(14:06):
week, and I did it.
I was able to get in contactwith someone.
They gave me their card.
They gave me their card andthey gave me the person's card
that I need to talk to and fromthat point, I emailed her every
Monday, and I mean literallyevery Monday.
And then, you know, monthslater, she emailed me back, the
(14:26):
director.
She emailed me back and shetold me hey, you know, we
finally have an opportunity We'dlove to bring you in.
And I still have this emailfrom.
This was what, maybe 13 yearsago.
I still have the email sheemailed me back.
Okay, we went through theinterview process and I didn't
(14:48):
realize it was like a teaminterview.
So that was like my firstexperience.
I was like, oh gosh.
And so I walked in and you know, there's these team of people
and they kind of want to know ifyou're gonna fit with the team
and, unbeknownst to me, she hadalready shared with them that I
had been emailing her everyMonday.
And so the running joke, likeafter, you know, I got the job
(15:13):
and everything, and one of mycolleagues was like, so you're
very persistent, huh, and weheard about your Monday emails
and looks like, oh goodness.
So, yeah, that's how it started.
You know, I think that when youare a student, you're a new
grad and you're seeking aposition and you're not getting
feedback again.
(15:34):
I've said this probably two orthree times.
You gotta do it theunconventional way.
And so for me it was.
I'm just gonna go up there andlet them see who I am and trust
that you know someone's gonnagive me a connection, and that
is what happened.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
And.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
I kept in contact with her and eventually it was
months later, but eventually sheemailed me back because I was
top of mind and I encourageindividuals to.
You know, doing it this waymight not work for you, but when
it's not working, reassess andfigure out a way in which it
does work for you.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
I'm so glad you shared that example, because I
think we don't think about theseunconventional ways to land
positions, and what I'mrealizing is that employers,
when they have somebody thatthey can kind of recall and have
a face to that name and havesome sort of rapport, it's
(16:32):
almost easier for them to invitethat individual to an interview
versus going through a stack of50 resumes, right.
And so if you can show up toplaces where potential employers
could be like a health fair andit's a place that they're not
expecting individuals to comeand pitch themselves for a job
at, it's a great way for you toone learn about the organization
(16:54):
and then also get your nameacross.
And, like you said, tasha,you're not gonna see some sort
of a result or action be takenimmediately, but I think
eventually that point of contactand that relationship that
you're building is going tosomehow, you know, land you an
opportunity.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
I agree, I definitely agree, and in doing that, I
learned that that's also a skillwhen you're working with your
patients and your clients.
That was practiced even ingetting the job, and so once I
got the job and I startedworking more intimately with
these patients and these clients, that behavior change takes
(17:36):
time.
It is not something that okay,you know you have high blood
pressure and today's Monday, bynext week it's gonna you're
gonna be eating healthy everyday that it does not work that
way For me, as someone who, whenI first started, I was ready to
save the world with my littlecap on and you know, health
(18:00):
education.
Here I come and you learn thatit takes time.
It takes time in, in buildingthat trust and building that
relationship.
It's gonna be one thing one daysometimes, or one week, one
month sometimes, with someclients or patients, and no
(18:22):
matter what, though, they aremaking that change and that
behavior change for themselves,and that really is the exciting
part that I love to see.
I remember there was this truckdriver that I had worked with
and he was on the verge oflosing his job because his
diabetes had gotten so out ofcontrol it was starting to
(18:43):
affect his vision, and so, youknow, as a truck driver, you
have to go through certaintestings with vision and things
like that, and so they submittedfor him to come to our class,
and I tell you that that wassuch an impactful patient that I
will never forget, because hetalked about, really we got down
to the root of why he needed tomake that change, and his
(19:07):
reasoning was for his family.
It was for his family that.
You know, if I lose my job, Ican't support my family, and so
I was then able to take that andinclude his family into his
meal prepping, include hisfamily into his exercise routine
(19:27):
, because now this is becomingsomething in which we want to
support the family, because Iknow how much this is weighing
on you.
So, hey, you guys, let's plan aday to go to the park and go
walking, or let's plan a timefor you guys to meal prep
together, so that it can becomesomething that's not so heavy on
(19:49):
just you, because your job, italso impacts your family and I
know how much that is impactingyou.
So, as a CHW, many times you'reable to see those deep issues
above just the number, andyou're able to help them make
those lifestyle changes.
And you know, a few months wentby and before you know it, he's
(20:12):
A1C had came down and he wasstill able to work, and
eventually he got his childrento start coming up to the rec
and, you know, playing andworking out, and so that was a
beautiful transformation that Iwill really never forget,
because we really worked closelytogether for a few months and I
was able to see such a changein him.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
That's amazing.
Yeah, having those stories, Ithink, just keeps you going.
You know, despite talking abouthow change can take so long,
just seeing each individual'slike milestones as they're
hitting it is super inspiring.
I heard you talk about lots ofdifferent things you know, as
you're helping patients andclients at this clinic.
(20:54):
Obviously, I think it helpedthat you had a bachelor's degree
in the sciences, so you hadthat basic understanding.
But I'm curious to hear ifthere were areas that you had to
upskill in, because you'retalking about nutrition, you're
talking about exercise, and didyou feel like you had a lot of
that training through yourdegree?
Or were there points you know,during your career where you
(21:18):
kind of had to do a little bitmore learning or go back for any
like upskilling in many areas?
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Oh, certainly.
You know, my degree is inhealth studies and so promotion
needs, assessments, mediaoutreach it was the emphasis,
and so I definitely needed thoserefreshers, and my employer at
the time they always provided usa refreshers and as a CHW
certified through the state,it's required for you to have
continuing education, and so Iwas always taking, you know,
(21:49):
some type of educational course,and then also our team provided
in-service courses andopportunities to help us be
better trainers as we wereteaching those community classes
, because many times, eventhough we were teaching courses
in-house, many times we alsotook that show on the road and
(22:12):
we went to other places toprovide education and teaching,
and so the environment isdifferent and you have to learn
how to do that.
You know, eventually I became aCHW instructor and so I was
able to go through that courseand get certified, and that
(22:32):
looked a lot different as well,because now we're talking about
curriculum development.
We're talking about reallydiving into adult learners and
how they best learn differenttypes of learners, different
types of environments.
You know, I may be speaking toa class of 10 today and then
maybe going to a school speakingto 300 kids, or I may be, you
(22:54):
know, be going and speaking at aconference to a hundred adults
that are physicians, and thenyou know all of these clinical
people telling them and sharingmy story of being a CHW and the
impact that we're making in theclinical setting and in the
healthcare setting, and sothat's different.
And so to anyone that's in theCHW, feel that you do want to
(23:16):
make that transition.
You want to go from being a CHWboots on the ground to now
moving into a space of where youare teaching and you're
mentoring and being able toshare how to level up your skill
sets and also impact thecommunity.
I would definitely say onementorship but, also two.
(23:37):
You know you have to do the workas well.
I mean, what that looks like isbeing able to go into a
community and communicate andshare health education.
Just you know, whether it'sthat 15-minute presentation or a
45-minute presentation, likehow you communicate, because
each environment is so differentand that's something,
(24:01):
personally, I had to learn.
You have to learn that skill setof environments being very
different and how to quicklychange maybe what you thought
you were going to present andthe way you thought you were
going to present based off ofthat environment.
You don't want to stand infront of people you know 30, 45
(24:22):
minutes and you just see thattheir eyes are lost over.
That's what I mean.
So if you really start to divedeep in how to teach, train,
present, you will gain thatexperience and gain that skill
set and that looks like justgoing to different environments
and teaching and training andlearning how to kind of improv
(24:46):
in a way that makes impact, sothat you're not not being
impactful when you're there.
You're just there to provideinformation, to say you did it.
You don't want to do that, youreally want to make impact.
That's something that I woulddefinitely share.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
I definitely want to get into more about
transitioning from boots on theground into more like
facilitation and training.
But one question I did have,and I think you alluded to this
at the very beginning.
You mentioned that the role ofa community health worker varies
from region to region.
When you started off, UNN gotcertified to be a community
(25:23):
health worker.
Is that the typical first stepthat anybody should consider if
they're interested in this lineof work?
Maybe they have their degree orthey're working on their degree
, and is the certification thenext step?
Or should they first get a jobin this field and then go for
(25:45):
certification?
Maybe you could talk a littlebit about that.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Yeah, you can do either.
Or Again, I'll say that I'm inTexas.
In Texas we start training CHWsat 16.
At 16 years old I've had themin my course that I train CHWs.
You can get your certificationat 16 years old.
(26:09):
There are high schools that aretraining CHWs, right?
Speaker 2 (26:12):
now.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
You can go that way.
In many of those students theywant to be in a career of public
health, in the healthcare arena.
That's their first step.
They're able to go out into thecommunity, pass out the flyers,
let people know about thesecommunity events coming up,
doing basic health education,those type of things.
(26:36):
Then there's individuals thatmay be in the college arena and
they're about to get into theworkforce and they want an
additional certification.
I've talked to thoseindividuals as well and you can
definitely do that as well.
Or there are individuals thatI've trained that are this is
(26:56):
the second career for them andthey just want to do something
totally different.
They may not even have a degree.
You don't have to have a degreeto be a community health worker.
In some states it is acertification in which you do
have to go through a certainamount of training.
Here in Texas it's a 160-hourcertification training.
(27:18):
Other states it's less.
In some states it's more.
It really depends on the state.
I'll give you a site forindividuals to go to to check
their state to see what thoserequirements are where they are.
You just go from there.
One, it depends on where you'relocated, but two, you don't
(27:40):
have to have a formal degree tobecome a community health worker
.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
That's good to know.
Yeah, I think that link will bevery, very helpful.
I'm getting a lot more curiousnow about this because I'm based
in Canada and I'm very curiousabout how it works here.
I'm going to dig into that alittle bit more and see if I can
put in some resources forCanada as well.
Okay, so I think you talkedabout that transition.
(28:06):
After you spent some time bootson the ground being a community
health worker, you transitionedinto teaching.
You spent over five years as acommunity health worker at that
organization that you were at,and then what was that pivotal
point for you?
To start training communityhealth workers?
Speaker 1 (28:27):
I would say the opportunity came through my
employer because our site was atraining site and so that became
part of the job but is gettingcertified to train.
But at the same time I wasready to grow in my career and
so I think that that also had alot to do with that.
(28:47):
I was ready to take on a littlebit more leadership and grow
more in my career, and I wasable to do that.
Then I actually ended up movingfrom that role and I moved into
a more clinical role.
So I went from communitycommunity-based boots on the
ground out in the communitydoing the health fairs, health
promotion, putting on events,hosting classes, teaching,
(29:09):
exercise classes I meanliterally doing it all and I
left there and then I went and Iworked at the clinical setting
as a CHW, and so I would workalong with a physician, went in
before the physician, thephysician would go in.
Then we talked do ourassessment, do my referrals, and
(29:30):
I did that for a couple ofyears and I was still training
at that time and then I moved toanother position where I
started working in trauma andinjury prevention, and that was
a statewide position in which Iwas able to provide education on
trauma and injury prevention.
Remember, I told you I wantedto be a trauma nurse, so that
(29:51):
kind of aligned with that.
That kind of gave me my thrill,yeah, and I did that for a few
years and the beautiful thingabout that was that I was able
to bring my perspective of acommunity health worker to
traffic safety and that's notsomething that you see very
often is CHWs in that trafficsafety arena and so I was really
(30:11):
able to hone in into the workthat I was doing and be at these
conferences and let people knowabout the work and how CHWs can
be integrated into that traumaand injury prevention space, and
so that was a very, veryexciting time because it was new
, but also I was able to mergethose two things that I enjoyed
doing.
(30:31):
That's also where I was able tostart really really honing in on
my craft of teaching andtraining, because that literally
was my job.
I traveled throughout the stateof Texas all the time.
That was you know what the jobwas and I was able to really go
a little bit deeper with myfacilitation skills and growing
(30:51):
and teaching and training and Istarted creating more curriculum
and after that then I decidedto start my business, which I
provide CHW, ceus, continuingeducation and I just trusted
that.
Hey, you know, I really want todo this and I started from
(31:13):
there, and that's where we arenow.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
That's incredible, just building from one to the
other, to the other.
And is that kind of a typicalcareer path for community health
workers?
Or have you seen other paths aswell that people have taken?
You know, after spending maybefive or 10 years on the ground
working with the community, dopeople go to a different role?
(31:41):
I'm trying to maybe understandif there are other potential
career paths for people toconsider.
Or is it traditionally?
You know, you go from acommunity health worker, then
you go into training and thenyou sort of move around in
different organizations tryingto support training of community
health workers.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
I've seen it different ways.
There are people who have goneinto you know, go from a CHW.
They go to a trainer, like Idid.
They kind of merge.
Not everybody that's a CHWwants to train, though, and I've
worked with colleagues who I'mlike, oh gosh, you'd be a great
trainer, Like I don't want totrain.
Yeah, you know, that's justabout because they don't have an
(32:21):
interest in it at all, but forthem more of a supervisory
management role with their lane,and so I've seen that happen to
where they go from a CHW to youknow, they've worked there a
few years showing thoseleadership skills.
And if you have thoseleadership skills and that's
something you want to do, makesure to share that with your
(32:42):
management and make sure thatyou are putting yourself in a
position in which you are ableto take on some leadership, to
show that you're able to be inthat role.
And so I've seen them move intoyou know, CHW supervisor, CHW
manager and, you know, go fromthere.
Some individuals they may notwant to go into management.
(33:05):
They may want to go intotraining where they may want to
go into business for themselves,they may want to become
consultants to where they'reable to put the experience that
they've been able to provideinto action through additional
programming and giving theirinsight.
Some CHWs work in research.
Their thing is research.
(33:26):
They're all about the data,they're all about the numbers.
They want to know what theimpact is that they're making.
There's not a lot of CHWs inresearch, but I know a couple,
and so I think that we'restarting to see this beautiful
evolution of how CHWs can beutilized in the healthcare
system you know away from justin the community.
(33:48):
There's other ways CHWs can beleveraged and utilized as well
because, again, they have thattrusted relationship with the
community and for employers, youknow that may be listening and
maybe considering how can youimplement CHWs into your program
, into your healthcare system?
I mean there are a plethora ofways.
(34:10):
I definitely would guideindividuals to the resources
that places like Nashua, whichis the National Association of
Community Health Workers, have.
They have a database where it'sfull of resources on how to
implement CHWs into yourhealthcare system, Some of the
best practices that you canutilize and really
(34:32):
foundationally go about it theright way to make sure that
their careers are sustainable.
I think sustainability is ahuge, huge issue right now.
After COVID, we've seenindividuals who lose their jobs
because of the grant.
Money has dried up, but we wantto be able to make sure that
the impact is not lost and wewant to capture that.
(34:53):
We want to be able to put thosedollars where CHWs are making
the impact so that they cansustain their career as well.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
So let's see.
Yeah, such an important point.
And is there a model whereorganizations can train
individuals already employedwithin the organizations to be
community health workers, Likethey don't necessarily need to
hire new resources?
Have you seen that model?
(35:22):
Or is it typically that it'sbest for an organization to
train up and have dedicatedcommunity health workers rather
than attach that additional roleto existing resources?
Speaker 1 (35:35):
If you're asking, can organizations train their own?
Yeah, yeah, so the organizationthat I was with, that's what we
did.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
So the healthcare system that I was with we had a
training center, and so thattraining center and this is just
here in Texas that trainingcenter was approved by the state
of Texas, so it has to gothrough an approval process and
any individuals that came intothe organization they had to go
through our training and getcertified and then they would go
(36:07):
into their role.
And so I think that the beautyof that is that the system knows
how they would like to utilizeand implement the C-H-W.
So in the curriculum thatyou've built you can tweak it to
how you, to the roles in whichthey will be serving.
(36:27):
Now, some individuals in somehealthcare system they don't
necessarily have that or do that, they just will send them to an
outside source to get trained.
And so that would be where Iwould come in, where my business
would come in and we trainindividuals that are seeking to
be trained.
But some organizations they dogo through that process and they
(36:49):
have a training center withintheir organization, but not
everybody does.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
Okay, good to know, and I think the point you made
previous to that topic aroundthe different career paths
people could pave as a communityhealth worker, I think it
sounds like becoming a communityhealth worker is a really good
foundation to then kind of builda path that's suitable to you,
(37:14):
right If you wanted to move upinto management at the
organization that you're at.
Starting off as a communityhealth worker really gets you to
understand the community thatyou're going to serve through
that organization.
Sounds like you can go intotraining roles in various
different organizations and then, like you did, work for
yourself and be self-employedand really focus on the pieces
(37:35):
that brought you joy and youreally enjoyed and kind of build
a career for yourself throughself-employment and
entrepreneurship, which I thinkis always fun to talk about
because I love that.
So for you, I think you startedin 2019, that's when you
started crew wellness Tell usabout how you made that decision
(37:57):
and I'm sure it's not an easyone to decide to start working
for yourself and not bedependent on a paycheck.
So maybe you can talk throughwhat you had to deal with when
you were making that transition.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
Yeah, so, in full transparency, the position in
which I was in, where I wastraveling all the time, once
COVID hit, that was the end ofthat, and so I was actually laid
off.
My entire team or entiredepartment was laid off.
And you know, through that timeyou are trying to figure things
(38:32):
out I had already started doinglike speaking and engagements
and things like that, and thatalso allowed me some time to
really think about the nextsteps and through that I was
able to say you know, this issomething that I've been sitting
(38:52):
on and that I've been wantingto do, and the opportunity came
and I just didn't look back.
You know, I started slowly andstep by step.
I just kept going.
That's the best way to say it, Ijust kept going Because you
know you're in the middle of apandemic, you don't know what's
going on and there's just a lotgoing on, and so, but I will say
(39:18):
that the support that I hadfrom my community, individuals
who had known me, and throughsome of the work that I had
already done, oh man, that wassuch a blessing to know that
individuals, they were rootingfor me and that they were so
amazing to help provide me thoseresources and though, you know,
(39:42):
just mentioning your name in aroom and helping you, you know,
get referrals and clients andthings like that, that really,
really meant a lot and thoseindividuals I don't take that
lightly at all.
I will say to that thatcommunity is huge, especially
when you make a decision that,okay, this is something I want
to start.
I don't know all that I'm doingbecause I did not go to schools
(40:03):
for business at all.
I mean, that's a whole otherstory.
I actually did go to school forbusiness but I changed my major
, but I ended back up here, so Ididn't know all of the things
and I still don't.
I'm still figuring it out.
I think many of us are, becausethings just change.
And so, yeah, I started thatand doing curriculum development
(40:25):
and offer for continuingeducation, and then last year we
launched the CHW certificationcourse in which CHWs can get
certified here in the state ofTexas through my program and I'm
very excited about that andexcited to offer, you know,
wellness workshops fororganizations and speaking
engagements and just sharing alot of my love of health and
(40:47):
wellness and the CHW work andthe impact that CHWs can make,
because this is truly a careerthat I believe in and that I
know that this is something thatI'm led to do, is my purpose
work and I really feel blessedto be able to do it.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
That's amazing.
Thank you so much, tasha, forjust sharing everything about
your journey and you know, allthe additional wisdom that you
shared for anybody even thinkingabout community health work as
a potential career pathway, andI really hope people look into
this more.
And I think you have lots ofresources on your website or
your LinkedIn and I think yousaid you're going to share a few
(41:25):
links with us as well that wecan throw into the show notes.
Are there any other places thatpeople should get more
information about you or yourjourney?
I know I saw a YouTube videoonce about you and that's kind
of what motivated me to reachout to you, but curious about
whether there's any other hiddengems out there that we should
go in and look into just tolearn a little bit more about
(41:47):
community health work.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
Yeah, I definitely recommend individuals to go to
the National Association ofCommunity Health Workers website
.
There is tremendous resourcesonline there and it's all
organized state by state, so Iwould recommend individuals go
there as well as receivingarticles.
They have the largest databaseof all articles on community
(42:11):
health workers online.
So if you're looking for anytopic, you're going to find it
there and to get connected withme don't be a stranger Reach out
on LinkedIn and also visit mywebsite, wwwwellnessllccom.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
Awesome.
Thank you so much, tasha.
Speaker 1 (42:26):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
Hey, I hope you enjoyed that episode and if you
want to get the links orinformation mentioned in today's
episode, you can head over tophspotorg slash podcast and
we'll have everything there foryou.
And before you go, I want totell you about the Public Health
Career Club.
So if you've been looking for aplace to connect and build
(42:52):
meaningful relationships withother public health
professionals from all aroundthe world, you should join us in
the Public Health Career Club.
We launched the club with thevision of becoming the number
one hangout spot dedicated tobuilding and growing your dream
public health career.
And in addition to being able toconnect and build those
(43:12):
meaningful relationships withother public health
professionals, the club alsooffers other great resources for
your career growth and success,like mindset coaching, job
preparation clinics and careergrowth strategy sessions in the
form of trainings and talks, alldelivered by experts and
inspiring individuals in theseareas.
So if you want to learn more orwant to join the club, you can
(43:35):
visit our page at phspotorgslash club and we'll have all
the information there.
And you know, as a space that'sbeing intentionally curated to
bring together like mindedpublic health professionals who
are not only there to pushthemselves to become the best
versions of themselves, but alsoeach other.
And with that I can't wait tosee how this is going to have a
(44:00):
ripple effect in the world, aswe all work together to better
the health of our populationsand just have immense impact in
the world.
And I hope you'll be joining usin the public health career
club.
They are that trusted individual.
They built trust with thecommunity.
They know how to communicatewith them.
They know all of the ins andouts of what's going on and how
to really make impact and shiftmindsets and help lead
individuals to those resources.
So, community health worker atheart, they are that individual
(00:20):
that is helping to increase thecapacity of what their community
could be and bring others alongwith them to make impact.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Welcome to PH Spotlight, a community for you
to build your public healthcareer with.
Join us weekly right here, andI'll be here too.
Your host, sujani Siva from PHSpot.
Hi, tasha, and welcome to thePH Spot podcast.
So wonderful to have you herewith us today.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Hello, thank you so much for having me so glad to be
able to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I was thinking about a topic to actually like write
about, and it was about how youcan use LinkedIn to network, and
I think this is a classicexample of that, because you and
I met on LinkedIn.
You know, we recognizeeveryone's profile picture and
that's how we associate names, Ithink, to the individual, and
so for me it was a picture.
I'd see you in the comments,I'd see your posts and then
(01:22):
eventually, I think we connectedwith each other and started
messaging each other, and thenhere we are.
So I think you know, networkingthrough LinkedIn definitely
works.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
I definitely agree.
I, you know, love the contentthat you put out for public
health workers and I'm veryexcited to be able to share the
journey and allow that to besomething to help others
catapult their career.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
So, yeah, definitely believe in networking, yeah, and
I'm excited to get into it.
And I think there is no betterperson than you to talk about
being a community health worker,because I think you kind of
have lived it, breathed it, andthat's that's where your world
is at currently and I thinkwe'll get into that piece in a
(02:08):
little bit.
But I think for any of ourlisteners who are maybe starting
off in public health or areeven maybe looking to transition
into a different line of workand they see this role as a
community health worker and Ithink it'll vary depending on
where you are a community healthworker, but just high level
(02:29):
when somebody sees that rolecommunity health worker what can
they expect in that?
Like, what is a communityhealth worker?
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Yeah.
So this is a topic I'm verypassionate about.
So I've been a community healthworker, I truly believe, all my
life.
As far as my career, I beganthis work about 15 years ago and
a community health worker is afrontline public health worker.
They are that trusted person inthe community that has an
(03:00):
understanding of what and whothe community is, and so many
times I like to break it downLike the person in your
community who's at the cornerstore and they know everybody by
name, they know everythingthat's going on, they know how
to motivate those individuals tomake change in the community.
(03:21):
They are liaison.
They're that person that you goto for advice.
They are in the community bootson the ground to help improve
the quality and the structure ofthat community.
Apha has the definition that acommunity health worker is a
frontline public health workerwho is a trusted member of the
(03:42):
community.
They have an unusually closeunderstanding of the community
served.
So when you think about what aCHW is, you think about that
person in your community who isthe grandmother or who is the
aunt, or who is that person atthe church or who owns a
business in that community thatis connected and linked in with
(04:03):
everybody.
That's what a CHW is Okay.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
So I think in my head I was thinking you had to have
a specific education path inorder to become a community
health worker, but it soundslike you don't.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
No, not necessarily.
You know, when we think about acommunity health worker, every
state is different.
I know we'll probably get intothis.
Every state runs differently,but the perspective of which I'm
speaking of is, at the heart.
A community health worker isthat individual who is probably
already serving.
You know many times theindividuals that I have trained.
(04:41):
They've already been doing thework.
They just don't necessarilyhave that certification and that
, above all, is truly what makesa community health worker.
They are that trustedindividual.
They built trust with thecommunity.
They know how to communicatewith them.
They know all of the ins andouts of what's going on and how
to really make impact and shiftmindsets and help lead
(05:04):
individuals to those resources.
So you know a community healthworker at heart, they are that
individual that is helping toincrease the capacity of what
their community could be andbring others along with them to
make impact.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Maybe I think we can understand this role a little
bit more by hearing your ownpersonal journey and maybe if
you can recall years back and Ithink you said 15 years or more
when did you first learn aboutthis field of public health and
maybe even, you know, decidedthat you wanted to be a
(05:40):
community health worker and getinto this field?
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah.
So, believe it or not, I wentto school wanting to be a nurse.
I wanted to be a trauma nurse.
I want to be a trauma flightnurse.
That was my goal.
So I'm way off the path of whatI thought I wanted to do and
that came through, you know,once I started getting deeper
into my courses at my universityand once I got to like the
(06:06):
health education, healthpromotion course, I really
learned the other side of whatthat looked like of helping
individuals through preventionand education, and that's what I
feel in love with.
So after graduation, my firstjob it was in health education
(06:28):
and health promotion and throughthat job that's how I became a
certified community healthworker here in the state of
Texas, and so that's when I wasintroduced to the role.
When I was in school I did nothear that term community health
worker.
It was all about healtheducation, health educator.
And then, once I got into thefirst job, that's when I became
(06:50):
a CHW and absolutely fell inlove with the field of community
health workers and what we wereable to do and the impact that
we were able to do as a team inthe community going out into the
community and servingindividuals, informing them of
the resources right in theirbackyard that they did not know
(07:12):
about.
I mean literally right in theirbackyard that they did not know
about.
And so at this clinic in whichI worked at the specialty with
diabetes education, and so inthe African-American community,
diabetes is a very seriouschronic disease and so right
once I got into the educationpart, me and my team and my
(07:34):
colleagues, we really loved whatwe were doing and we came at it
from a perspective of community, meaning a lot of our courses
and our classes were nottraditional.
We had dancing, we had linedancing, we had potlugs, we did
all of these things.
That was almost kind of like amini family reunion when we
(07:58):
would hold our classes, becausethat's how our community related
to us.
And I think that when you thinkabout the work that community
health workers do and how theyare able to make impact, that's
it.
They are able to connect withindividuals differently than
maybe a physician or a nurse orthe social worker or others.
(08:22):
And those people were on ourteam.
We were a multidisciplinaryteam but our role was really to
build that trust so that theywould make their appointments,
so that no shows would decrease,so that they had a reason to
come to the clinic, so that wewere able to provide them that
supplemental support in thosehealth education classes.
(08:43):
So that's kind of how my careerstarted, with CHWs and being
trained as a CHW quite some timeago.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
And is that how typically you were getting to
the community members by hostingevents that they would then
attend?
Or was there also kind of likethe flip side, where you would
go and attend events being heldin the community as well?
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Yes, both, because in order to build trust, it's not
just them coming to us, it's usgoing out to them too.
So when they would host eventsat their church or when they
would host events in thecommunity, we showed up as a
vendor.
We brought screenings, weprovided health education
pamphlets to those individualsbecause we needed to be visible,
(09:30):
right.
We just can't expect for themto come to us.
We also have to go out into thecommunity, and that was a huge
part of the work that we did.
As well is outreach.
How are you connecting withthose individuals?
And I will say to CHWs, orstudents that are in class to
become a CHW, or even employerswhen you think about the impact
(09:55):
that your CHWs can make, it willbe unconventional.
It's not going to fit inside ofa box in which you may think,
because each community isdifferent.
I'm talking about the communitythat I served in South Dallas
here in Texas, right, and thatwould probably be very different
than somewhere in another state.
And so you have to trust thoseCHWs to know how to interact
(10:20):
with their community and worktogether to be able to come up
with a plan that's gonna be bestimpactful for those individuals
.
And also, through building thattrust, you're able to bring in
those individuals to give youfeedback of the gaps.
Maybe you're not seeing on theother side and we did that a lot
(10:41):
we collaborated with ourpatients, with our community
members that, hey, we reallywanna host this heart health
event at our church, but wethink that maybe we need to have
a DJ, maybe we can offer somefresh fruits and vegetables,
bring in the food pantry.
(11:02):
We have to be able to listen tothose and maybe the way in
which you would do it isdifferent, and that's okay
because, at the end of the day,we're making impact and we're
working together and you'll beable to see something very, very
beautiful and impactful whenyou're able to listen to others
(11:23):
and allow them to lead in theway in which they think and
really, which they know is onceimpactful.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
That's beautiful and it sounds like one of the best
roles to be in, right out ofschool to really experience
public health like on the ground.
And I'm curious you're a newgrad.
I'm assuming that you had verylittle work experience when you
were applying to this role andyou were kind of like looking at
(11:54):
the job description and thenyou ended up getting the role
and you're starting there.
Did you feel like you had theskill set to be a community
health worker?
I guess I'm asking forindividuals who might be in your
shoes, who are maybe like newlygraduating and they're thinking
, oh, I don't know if I couldactually like do this role.
(12:16):
It involves a lot of skills toreally be able to embed yourself
within community and it's notsomething that's taught in the
classroom.
It's something that you have toexperience and you have to
learn.
I'm curious to hear kind of howyou set yourself up for success
during those early years.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Thank you for that question.
I didn't expect to share thispiece and I'm gonna share it.
So my approach was once Igraduated school I had a hard
time finding a job right afterschool, so I actually went into
teaching.
I quickly learned that was notmy ministry.
Okay, pre-k in first grade, noway out.
(12:55):
So love teachers.
Everybody in my family ismostly teachers.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Love them love them.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
I love to teach, but I am not a great school teacher.
But that's what I did for abouta year, and then my sister
actually told me about thisposition because she saw the
work that they were doing on thenews and she was like you know,
you should really go and checkit out.
And so I did.
I'm the type of person you knowI'm going to do my research,
(13:24):
and I did, and I felt like thebest way for me to see if this
was something that I wanted todo would be for me to go to one
of their events, and so I did.
I went to one of theircommunity events in Cognito.
Like you know, one knew me.
I just wanted to see like whatit looked like, like what did a
(13:44):
health fair look like that theywere running?
And I did, and I absolutelyloved it.
Well, when I went there, I thenwent back, probably like a week
later, and I went to try andconnect with someone who could
get me connected to, who Ineeded to be connected to.
So I literally went up therelike one, a random day of the
(14:06):
week, and I did it.
I was able to get in contactwith someone.
They gave me their card.
They gave me their card andthey gave me the person's card
that I need to talk to and fromthat point, I emailed her every
Monday, and I mean literallyevery Monday.
And then, you know, monthslater, she emailed me back, the
(14:26):
director.
She emailed me back and shetold me hey, you know, we
finally have an opportunity We'dlove to bring you in.
And I still have this emailfrom.
This was what, maybe 13 yearsago.
I still have the email sheemailed me back.
Okay, we went through theinterview process and I didn't
(14:48):
realize it was like a teaminterview.
So that was like my firstexperience.
I was like, oh gosh.
And so I walked in and you know, there's these team of people
and they kind of want to know ifyou're gonna fit with the team
and, unbeknownst to me, she hadalready shared with them that I
had been emailing her everyMonday.
And so the running joke, likeafter, you know, I got the job
(15:13):
and everything, and one of mycolleagues was like, so you're
very persistent, huh, and weheard about your Monday emails
and looks like, oh goodness.
So, yeah, that's how it started.
You know, I think that when youare a student, you're a new
grad and you're seeking aposition and you're not getting
feedback again.
(15:34):
I've said this probably two orthree times.
You gotta do it theunconventional way.
And so for me it was.
I'm just gonna go up there andlet them see who I am and trust
that you know someone's gonnagive me a connection, and that
is what happened.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
And.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
I kept in contact with her and eventually it was
months later, but eventually sheemailed me back because I was
top of mind and I encourageindividuals to.
You know, doing it this waymight not work for you, but when
it's not working, reassess andfigure out a way in which it
does work for you.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
I'm so glad you shared that example, because I
think we don't think about theseunconventional ways to land
positions, and what I'mrealizing is that employers,
when they have somebody thatthey can kind of recall and have
a face to that name and havesome sort of rapport, it's
(16:32):
almost easier for them to invitethat individual to an interview
versus going through a stack of50 resumes, right.
And so if you can show up toplaces where potential employers
could be like a health fair andit's a place that they're not
expecting individuals to comeand pitch themselves for a job
at, it's a great way for you toone learn about the organization
(16:54):
and then also get your nameacross.
And, like you said, tasha,you're not gonna see some sort
of a result or action be takenimmediately, but I think
eventually that point of contactand that relationship that
you're building is going tosomehow, you know, land you an
opportunity.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
I agree, I definitely agree, and in doing that, I
learned that that's also a skillwhen you're working with your
patients and your clients.
That was practiced even ingetting the job, and so once I
got the job and I startedworking more intimately with
these patients and these clients, that behavior change takes
(17:36):
time.
It is not something that okay,you know you have high blood
pressure and today's Monday, bynext week it's gonna you're
gonna be eating healthy everyday that it does not work that
way For me, as someone who, whenI first started, I was ready to
save the world with my littlecap on and you know, health
(18:00):
education.
Here I come and you learn thatit takes time.
It takes time in, in buildingthat trust and building that
relationship.
It's gonna be one thing one daysometimes, or one week, one
month sometimes, with someclients or patients, and no
(18:22):
matter what, though, they aremaking that change and that
behavior change for themselves,and that really is the exciting
part that I love to see.
I remember there was this truckdriver that I had worked with
and he was on the verge oflosing his job because his
diabetes had gotten so out ofcontrol it was starting to
(18:43):
affect his vision, and so, youknow, as a truck driver, you
have to go through certaintestings with vision and things
like that, and so they submittedfor him to come to our class,
and I tell you that that wassuch an impactful patient that I
will never forget, because hetalked about, really we got down
to the root of why he needed tomake that change, and his
(19:07):
reasoning was for his family.
It was for his family that.
You know, if I lose my job, Ican't support my family, and so
I was then able to take that andinclude his family into his
meal prepping, include hisfamily into his exercise routine
(19:27):
, because now this is becomingsomething in which we want to
support the family, because Iknow how much this is weighing
on you.
So, hey, you guys, let's plan aday to go to the park and go
walking, or let's plan a timefor you guys to meal prep
together, so that it can becomesomething that's not so heavy on
(19:49):
just you, because your job, italso impacts your family and I
know how much that is impactingyou.
So, as a CHW, many times you'reable to see those deep issues
above just the number, andyou're able to help them make
those lifestyle changes.
And you know, a few months wentby and before you know it, he's
(20:12):
A1C had came down and he wasstill able to work, and
eventually he got his childrento start coming up to the rec
and, you know, playing andworking out, and so that was a
beautiful transformation that Iwill really never forget,
because we really worked closelytogether for a few months and I
was able to see such a changein him.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
That's amazing.
Yeah, having those stories, Ithink, just keeps you going.
You know, despite talking abouthow change can take so long,
just seeing each individual'slike milestones as they're
hitting it is super inspiring.
I heard you talk about lots ofdifferent things you know, as
you're helping patients andclients at this clinic.
(20:54):
Obviously, I think it helpedthat you had a bachelor's degree
in the sciences, so you hadthat basic understanding.
But I'm curious to hear ifthere were areas that you had to
upskill in, because you'retalking about nutrition, you're
talking about exercise, and didyou feel like you had a lot of
that training through yourdegree?
Or were there points you know,during your career where you
(21:18):
kind of had to do a little bitmore learning or go back for any
like upskilling in many areas?
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Oh, certainly.
You know, my degree is inhealth studies and so promotion
needs, assessments, mediaoutreach it was the emphasis,
and so I definitely needed thoserefreshers, and my employer at
the time they always provided usa refreshers and as a CHW
certified through the state,it's required for you to have
continuing education, and so Iwas always taking, you know,
(21:49):
some type of educational course,and then also our team provided
in-service courses andopportunities to help us be
better trainers as we wereteaching those community classes
, because many times, eventhough we were teaching courses
in-house, many times we alsotook that show on the road and
(22:12):
we went to other places toprovide education and teaching,
and so the environment isdifferent and you have to learn
how to do that.
You know, eventually I became aCHW instructor and so I was
able to go through that courseand get certified, and that
(22:32):
looked a lot different as well,because now we're talking about
curriculum development.
We're talking about reallydiving into adult learners and
how they best learn differenttypes of learners, different
types of environments.
You know, I may be speaking toa class of 10 today and then
maybe going to a school speakingto 300 kids, or I may be, you
(22:54):
know, be going and speaking at aconference to a hundred adults
that are physicians, and thenyou know all of these clinical
people telling them and sharingmy story of being a CHW and the
impact that we're making in theclinical setting and in the
healthcare setting, and sothat's different.
And so to anyone that's in theCHW, feel that you do want to
(23:16):
make that transition.
You want to go from being a CHWboots on the ground to now
moving into a space of where youare teaching and you're
mentoring and being able toshare how to level up your skill
sets and also impact thecommunity.
I would definitely say onementorship but, also two.
(23:37):
You know you have to do the workas well.
I mean, what that looks like isbeing able to go into a
community and communicate andshare health education.
Just you know, whether it'sthat 15-minute presentation or a
45-minute presentation, likehow you communicate, because
each environment is so differentand that's something,
(24:01):
personally, I had to learn.
You have to learn that skill setof environments being very
different and how to quicklychange maybe what you thought
you were going to present andthe way you thought you were
going to present based off ofthat environment.
You don't want to stand infront of people you know 30, 45
(24:22):
minutes and you just see thattheir eyes are lost over.
That's what I mean.
So if you really start to divedeep in how to teach, train,
present, you will gain thatexperience and gain that skill
set and that looks like justgoing to different environments
and teaching and training andlearning how to kind of improv
(24:46):
in a way that makes impact, sothat you're not not being
impactful when you're there.
You're just there to provideinformation, to say you did it.
You don't want to do that, youreally want to make impact.
That's something that I woulddefinitely share.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
I definitely want to get into more about
transitioning from boots on theground into more like
facilitation and training.
But one question I did have,and I think you alluded to this
at the very beginning.
You mentioned that the role ofa community health worker varies
from region to region.
When you started off, UNN gotcertified to be a community
(25:23):
health worker.
Is that the typical first stepthat anybody should consider if
they're interested in this lineof work?
Maybe they have their degree orthey're working on their degree
, and is the certification thenext step?
Or should they first get a jobin this field and then go for
(25:45):
certification?
Maybe you could talk a littlebit about that.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Yeah, you can do either.
Or Again, I'll say that I'm inTexas.
In Texas we start training CHWsat 16.
At 16 years old I've had themin my course that I train CHWs.
You can get your certificationat 16 years old.
(26:09):
There are high schools that aretraining CHWs, right?
Speaker 2 (26:12):
now.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
You can go that way.
In many of those students theywant to be in a career of public
health, in the healthcare arena.
That's their first step.
They're able to go out into thecommunity, pass out the flyers,
let people know about thesecommunity events coming up,
doing basic health education,those type of things.
(26:36):
Then there's individuals thatmay be in the college arena and
they're about to get into theworkforce and they want an
additional certification.
I've talked to thoseindividuals as well and you can
definitely do that as well.
Or there are individuals thatI've trained that are this is
(26:56):
the second career for them andthey just want to do something
totally different.
They may not even have a degree.
You don't have to have a degreeto be a community health worker.
In some states it is acertification in which you do
have to go through a certainamount of training.
Here in Texas it's a 160-hourcertification training.
(27:18):
Other states it's less.
In some states it's more.
It really depends on the state.
I'll give you a site forindividuals to go to to check
their state to see what thoserequirements are where they are.
You just go from there.
One, it depends on where you'relocated, but two, you don't
(27:40):
have to have a formal degree tobecome a community health worker
.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
That's good to know.
Yeah, I think that link will bevery, very helpful.
I'm getting a lot more curiousnow about this because I'm based
in Canada and I'm very curiousabout how it works here.
I'm going to dig into that alittle bit more and see if I can
put in some resources forCanada as well.
Okay, so I think you talkedabout that transition.
(28:06):
After you spent some time bootson the ground being a community
health worker, you transitionedinto teaching.
You spent over five years as acommunity health worker at that
organization that you were at,and then what was that pivotal
point for you?
To start training communityhealth workers?
Speaker 1 (28:27):
I would say the opportunity came through my
employer because our site was atraining site and so that became
part of the job but is gettingcertified to train.
But at the same time I wasready to grow in my career and
so I think that that also had alot to do with that.
(28:47):
I was ready to take on a littlebit more leadership and grow
more in my career, and I wasable to do that.
Then I actually ended up movingfrom that role and I moved into
a more clinical role.
So I went from communitycommunity-based boots on the
ground out in the communitydoing the health fairs, health
promotion, putting on events,hosting classes, teaching,
(29:09):
exercise classes I meanliterally doing it all and I
left there and then I went and Iworked at the clinical setting
as a CHW, and so I would workalong with a physician, went in
before the physician, thephysician would go in.
Then we talked do ourassessment, do my referrals, and
(29:30):
I did that for a couple ofyears and I was still training
at that time and then I moved toanother position where I
started working in trauma andinjury prevention, and that was
a statewide position in which Iwas able to provide education on
trauma and injury prevention.
Remember, I told you I wantedto be a trauma nurse, so that
(29:51):
kind of aligned with that.
That kind of gave me my thrill,yeah, and I did that for a few
years and the beautiful thingabout that was that I was able
to bring my perspective of acommunity health worker to
traffic safety and that's notsomething that you see very
often is CHWs in that trafficsafety arena and so I was really
(30:11):
able to hone in into the workthat I was doing and be at these
conferences and let people knowabout the work and how CHWs can
be integrated into that traumaand injury prevention space, and
so that was a very, veryexciting time because it was new
, but also I was able to mergethose two things that I enjoyed
doing.
(30:31):
That's also where I was able tostart really really honing in on
my craft of teaching andtraining, because that literally
was my job.
I traveled throughout the stateof Texas all the time.
That was you know what the jobwas and I was able to really go
a little bit deeper with myfacilitation skills and growing
(30:51):
and teaching and training and Istarted creating more curriculum
and after that then I decidedto start my business, which I
provide CHW, ceus, continuingeducation and I just trusted
that.
Hey, you know, I really want todo this and I started from
(31:13):
there, and that's where we arenow.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
That's incredible, just building from one to the
other, to the other.
And is that kind of a typicalcareer path for community health
workers?
Or have you seen other paths aswell that people have taken?
You know, after spending maybefive or 10 years on the ground
working with the community, dopeople go to a different role?
(31:41):
I'm trying to maybe understandif there are other potential
career paths for people toconsider.
Or is it traditionally?
You know, you go from acommunity health worker, then
you go into training and thenyou sort of move around in
different organizations tryingto support training of community
health workers.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
I've seen it different ways.
There are people who have goneinto you know, go from a CHW.
They go to a trainer, like Idid.
They kind of merge.
Not everybody that's a CHWwants to train, though, and I've
worked with colleagues who I'mlike, oh gosh, you'd be a great
trainer, Like I don't want totrain.
Yeah, you know, that's justabout because they don't have an
(32:21):
interest in it at all, but forthem more of a supervisory
management role with their lane,and so I've seen that happen to
where they go from a CHW to youknow, they've worked there a
few years showing thoseleadership skills.
And if you have thoseleadership skills and that's
something you want to do, makesure to share that with your
(32:42):
management and make sure thatyou are putting yourself in a
position in which you are ableto take on some leadership, to
show that you're able to be inthat role.
And so I've seen them move intoyou know, CHW supervisor, CHW
manager and, you know, go fromthere.
Some individuals they may notwant to go into management.
(33:05):
They may want to go intotraining where they may want to
go into business for themselves,they may want to become
consultants to where they'reable to put the experience that
they've been able to provideinto action through additional
programming and giving theirinsight.
Some CHWs work in research.
Their thing is research.
(33:26):
They're all about the data,they're all about the numbers.
They want to know what theimpact is that they're making.
There's not a lot of CHWs inresearch, but I know a couple,
and so I think that we'restarting to see this beautiful
evolution of how CHWs can beutilized in the healthcare
system you know away from justin the community.
(33:48):
There's other ways CHWs can beleveraged and utilized as well
because, again, they have thattrusted relationship with the
community and for employers, youknow that may be listening and
maybe considering how can youimplement CHWs into your program
, into your healthcare system?
I mean there are a plethora ofways.
(34:10):
I definitely would guideindividuals to the resources
that places like Nashua, whichis the National Association of
Community Health Workers, have.
They have a database where it'sfull of resources on how to
implement CHWs into yourhealthcare system, Some of the
best practices that you canutilize and really
(34:32):
foundationally go about it theright way to make sure that
their careers are sustainable.
I think sustainability is ahuge, huge issue right now.
After COVID, we've seenindividuals who lose their jobs
because of the grant.
Money has dried up, but we wantto be able to make sure that
the impact is not lost and wewant to capture that.
(34:53):
We want to be able to put thosedollars where CHWs are making
the impact so that they cansustain their career as well.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
So let's see.
Yeah, such an important point.
And is there a model whereorganizations can train
individuals already employedwithin the organizations to be
community health workers, Likethey don't necessarily need to
hire new resources?
Have you seen that model?
(35:22):
Or is it typically that it'sbest for an organization to
train up and have dedicatedcommunity health workers rather
than attach that additional roleto existing resources?
Speaker 1 (35:35):
If you're asking, can organizations train their own?
Yeah, yeah, so the organizationthat I was with, that's what we
did.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
So the healthcare system that I was with we had a
training center, and so thattraining center and this is just
here in Texas that trainingcenter was approved by the state
of Texas, so it has to gothrough an approval process and
any individuals that came intothe organization they had to go
through our training and getcertified and then they would go
(36:07):
into their role.
And so I think that the beautyof that is that the system knows
how they would like to utilizeand implement the C-H-W.
So in the curriculum thatyou've built you can tweak it to
how you, to the roles in whichthey will be serving.
(36:27):
Now, some individuals in somehealthcare system they don't
necessarily have that or do that, they just will send them to an
outside source to get trained.
And so that would be where Iwould come in, where my business
would come in and we trainindividuals that are seeking to
be trained.
But some organizations they dogo through that process and they
(36:49):
have a training center withintheir organization, but not
everybody does.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
Okay, good to know, and I think the point you made
previous to that topic aroundthe different career paths
people could pave as a communityhealth worker, I think it
sounds like becoming a communityhealth worker is a really good
foundation to then kind of builda path that's suitable to you,
(37:14):
right If you wanted to move upinto management at the
organization that you're at.
Starting off as a communityhealth worker really gets you to
understand the community thatyou're going to serve through
that organization.
Sounds like you can go intotraining roles in various
different organizations and then, like you did, work for
yourself and be self-employedand really focus on the pieces
(37:35):
that brought you joy and youreally enjoyed and kind of build
a career for yourself throughself-employment and
entrepreneurship, which I thinkis always fun to talk about
because I love that.
So for you, I think you startedin 2019, that's when you
started crew wellness Tell usabout how you made that decision
(37:57):
and I'm sure it's not an easyone to decide to start working
for yourself and not bedependent on a paycheck.
So maybe you can talk throughwhat you had to deal with when
you were making that transition.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
Yeah, so, in full transparency, the position in
which I was in, where I wastraveling all the time, once
COVID hit, that was the end ofthat, and so I was actually laid
off.
My entire team or entiredepartment was laid off.
And you know, through that timeyou are trying to figure things
(38:32):
out I had already started doinglike speaking and engagements
and things like that, and thatalso allowed me some time to
really think about the nextsteps and through that I was
able to say you know, this issomething that I've been sitting
(38:52):
on and that I've been wantingto do, and the opportunity came
and I just didn't look back.
You know, I started slowly andstep by step.
I just kept going.
That's the best way to say it, Ijust kept going Because you
know you're in the middle of apandemic, you don't know what's
going on and there's just a lotgoing on, and so, but I will say
(39:18):
that the support that I hadfrom my community, individuals
who had known me, and throughsome of the work that I had
already done, oh man, that wassuch a blessing to know that
individuals, they were rootingfor me and that they were so
amazing to help provide me thoseresources and though, you know,
(39:42):
just mentioning your name in aroom and helping you, you know,
get referrals and clients andthings like that, that really,
really meant a lot and thoseindividuals I don't take that
lightly at all.
I will say to that thatcommunity is huge, especially
when you make a decision that,okay, this is something I want
to start.
I don't know all that I'm doingbecause I did not go to schools
(40:03):
for business at all.
I mean, that's a whole otherstory.
I actually did go to school forbusiness but I changed my major
, but I ended back up here, so Ididn't know all of the things
and I still don't.
I'm still figuring it out.
I think many of us are, becausethings just change.
And so, yeah, I started thatand doing curriculum development
(40:25):
and offer for continuingeducation, and then last year we
launched the CHW certificationcourse in which CHWs can get
certified here in the state ofTexas through my program and I'm
very excited about that andexcited to offer, you know,
wellness workshops fororganizations and speaking
engagements and just sharing alot of my love of health and
(40:47):
wellness and the CHW work andthe impact that CHWs can make,
because this is truly a careerthat I believe in and that I
know that this is something thatI'm led to do, is my purpose
work and I really feel blessedto be able to do it.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
That's amazing.
Thank you so much, tasha, forjust sharing everything about
your journey and you know, allthe additional wisdom that you
shared for anybody even thinkingabout community health work as
a potential career pathway, andI really hope people look into
this more.
And I think you have lots ofresources on your website or
your LinkedIn and I think yousaid you're going to share a few
(41:25):
links with us as well that wecan throw into the show notes.
Are there any other places thatpeople should get more
information about you or yourjourney?
I know I saw a YouTube videoonce about you and that's kind
of what motivated me to reachout to you, but curious about
whether there's any other hiddengems out there that we should
go in and look into just tolearn a little bit more about
(41:47):
community health work.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
Yeah, I definitely recommend individuals to go to
the National Association ofCommunity Health Workers website
.
There is tremendous resourcesonline there and it's all
organized state by state, so Iwould recommend individuals go
there as well as receivingarticles.
They have the largest databaseof all articles on community
(42:11):
health workers online.
So if you're looking for anytopic, you're going to find it
there and to get connected withme don't be a stranger Reach out
on LinkedIn and also visit mywebsite, wwwwellnessllccom.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
Awesome.
Thank you so much, tasha.
Speaker 1 (42:26):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
Hey, I hope you enjoyed that episode and if you
want to get the links orinformation mentioned in today's
episode, you can head over tophspotorg slash podcast and
we'll have everything there foryou.
And before you go, I want totell you about the Public Health
Career Club.
So if you've been looking for aplace to connect and build
(42:52):
meaningful relationships withother public health
professionals from all aroundthe world, you should join us in
the Public Health Career Club.
We launched the club with thevision of becoming the number
one hangout spot dedicated tobuilding and growing your dream
public health career.
And in addition to being able toconnect and build those
(43:12):
meaningful relationships withother public health
professionals, the club alsooffers other great resources for
your career growth and success,like mindset coaching, job
preparation clinics and careergrowth strategy sessions in the
form of trainings and talks, alldelivered by experts and
inspiring individuals in theseareas.
So if you want to learn more orwant to join the club, you can
(43:35):
visit our page at phspotorgslash club and we'll have all
the information there.
And you know, as a space that'sbeing intentionally curated to
bring together like mindedpublic health professionals who
are not only there to pushthemselves to become the best
versions of themselves, but alsoeach other.
And with that I can't wait tosee how this is going to have a
(44:00):
ripple effect in the world, aswe all work together to better
the health of our populationsand just have immense impact in
the world.
And I hope you'll be joining usin the public health career
club.
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