Healthy Conversations Over Time! Read on for Further Details
HEALTHY Conversations An Interactive Guide to Making Positive Change HEALTHY Conversations A guide for Community Health Workers about mental health and substance use to support clients making positive change Copyright 2014 Anansi Health Images from iStockphoto.com, with the exception of the gratitude jar on page 192, copyright Tiare Smith HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE This guide was written to help support direct care staff, including case managers, peer advocates, patient navigators, etc. to build healthy working relationships with their clients who struggle with mental health, substance use, or both. The goal is to facilitate honest, meaningful conversations that empower the client to understand their issues better and make small, positive steps to improve their health. The language we use here, Community Health Worker (CHW), is meant as an umbrella term for folks who work directly with clients in their homes, clinic, or community setting to improve health outcomes and quality of life. Please feel free to adapt the terms here to fit with your program (ie: change the word client to patient, consumer, or member, whatever your participants like to be called). We hope it will be a jumping off point for all kinds of healthy conversations over time! Read on for further details. Goals: • Build relationship and trust between Community Health Worker (CHW) and the client • Assess client’s issues, strengths, goals, dreams, perspective, and motivation about their mental health and/or substance use issues • Uncover barriers to optimal health, engagement
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