Back to Annual Meeting

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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Xavier D. Williams, BS¹, Elena Quintana, PhD², Candice Kane, PhD, JD², and Gary Slutkin, MD². (1) CeaseFire, Chicago Project for Violence Prevention, 2440 West 63rd, Chicago, IL 60429, (773) 436-0843, delaine@uchicago.edu, (2) The Chicago Project for Violence Prevention, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1603 W. Taylor St., Chicago, IL 60612

In order to effectively prevent violence, it is important to be able to successfully reach those at highest risk for perpetrating and falling victim to violence. Community health workers are uniquely positioned and skilled at identifying and engaging clients, and understanding client's needs in their own environment. Concurrently, they are held to rigorous documentation, ethical and professional expectations. Discrepancies between the skills that enable CHWs to work on the streets with potentially uncompromising individuals, and acculturating to fulfill expectations within a more traditional work setting makes negotiating these two worlds especially challenging.

This presentation describes the process that CeaseFire in Chicago has undergone to bridge the gap between the diverse skill sets Outreach Workers possess that enable them to be effective on the street. This includes training that offers clinical, professional and educational preparation necessary to see rewarding results from working with clients. CeaseFire has used Outreach Worker feedback to build on each stage of their professional development starting with a comprehensive selection screening process to assure a good job fit. Next, Outreach Workers go through 56 hours of orientation training, provided by a combination of current Outreach Workers, community partners and program administrators. Throughout their employment, Outreach Workers receive continuous formal and informal support through monthly in-service training, mentoring and resource development.

Presented from the first hand perspective of a seasoned CeaseFire Outreach Worker and program administrators, this session will offer a template for the selection, training and structural support mechanisms necessary for optimum CHW capacity building.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify qualities of the most effective CHWs for violence prevention work.
• Recognize the common challenges in meeting CHW’s needs for professional support and development related to violence prevention.
• Create an outline of training topics for CHW’s and identify community partners that could assist in facilitating these violence prevention trainings.
• Describe the necessary infrastructure for supporting CHW’s work.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered