Learn It
Live It
Share ItCultural Mediation
in the Academy
🌉 Welcome, future CHW!
Bridge communities and health and social systems. This unit is 14 hours of CHW Pro training across video lessons, group practice, this eBook and the Qwest station.
By the end you can
- Practice cultural humility instead of assuming
- Explain language access rights and use qualified interpreters
- Bridge information both ways between clients and systems
AZ scope area: Providing cultural mediation among individuals, communities, and health and social systems
Cultural Mediation
Culture is more than ethnicity
Culture includes language, faith, age, disability, gender, sexual orientation, work, rural or city life and family traditions. Every person belongs to many cultures at once.
Cultural humility
Instead of memorizing facts about groups, stay curious about each person. Ask what matters to them. Notice your own assumptions. Learn from the client, who is the expert on their own life.
A bridge goes both ways
CHWs explain how the health system works to the community, and help the system understand the community. With the client's permission, tell the care team what matters to the family.
Cultural Mediation continued
Language access
Programs that receive federal money must offer free language help to people with limited English. Ask for a qualified interpreter. Never use children to interpret health information, and only interpret yourself if you are trained and allowed to.
Bias and equity
Everyone has bias. Notice it and check it. Health equity means everyone has a fair chance to be as healthy as possible. The National CLAS Standards give organizations 15 steps toward culturally and linguistically appropriate services.
Words CHWs Use
A lifelong practice of self-reflection and learning from each person.
A trained person who interprets accurately and keeps information private.
National standards for culturally and linguistically appropriate services in health care.
Everyone has a fair and just chance to be as healthy as possible.
Mrs. Tran's follow-up visit
Mrs. Tran had a baby two weeks ago. She speaks Vietnamese and missed her follow-up visit. Clinic staff say she "doesn't care." Her family is following traditional practices for new mothers at home.
Your CHW steps
- Ask Mrs. Tran what matters to her and her family right now
- Learn which family practices are important to her
- With her permission, share what you learned with the care team
- Arrange a Vietnamese interpreter for the visit
- Help schedule a visit time and place that works for the family
In the Qwest, the steps are shuffled. Put them in the best order to help the client and earn your LIVE It coins.
Keep going: Cultural Mediation
The rest of this eBook — the scenario, unit check, Qwest lab, practicum log and answer key.
Get this eBook · $9.99All 12 eBooks + Ambassador membership · $49CHW Pro learners and Ambassadors: this series is included.Sign in to unlockCheck Your CHW Skills
- Memorizing facts about each group
- Staying curious and learning from each person
- Treating everyone exactly the same
- Avoiding talk about culture
- Let the child interpret
- Speak louder and slower
- Request a qualified interpreter
- Skip the visit
- Only explains the system to clients
- Tells clients to drop their traditions
- Makes medical decisions for families
- Bridges understanding in both directions
- Culturally and linguistically appropriate services
- Billing codes
- Hospital parking
- Lab tests
- Share it all right away
- Ask the client's permission
- Post it in the staff chat
- Wait until the next year
Answers are on page 11. In the Qwest this is the Boss Quiz — score 80% to earn the station badge.
Keep going: Cultural Mediation
The rest of this eBook — the scenario, unit check, Qwest lab, practicum log and answer key.
Get this eBook · $9.99All 12 eBooks + Ambassador membership · $49CHW Pro learners and Ambassadors: this series is included.Sign in to unlockStation 3 Qwest Lab
Every challenge uses this unit. Each one earns Live It coins and moves you toward the next CHW rank.
Keep going: Cultural Mediation
The rest of this eBook — the scenario, unit check, Qwest lab, practicum log and answer key.
Get this eBook · $9.99All 12 eBooks + Ambassador membership · $49CHW Pro learners and Ambassadors: this series is included.Sign in to unlockTeach It Forward
The fastest way to master a skill is to teach it. Your Share It challenge:
- Ask someone from a different background what helps them feel respected at a clinic. Share what you learned (no names).
- Use teach-back: ask them to explain it in their own words.
- Post what you learned (no client names) in your group or the Share It Studio to earn SHARE It coins.
Keep going: Cultural Mediation
The rest of this eBook — the scenario, unit check, Qwest lab, practicum log and answer key.
Get this eBook · $9.99All 12 eBooks + Ambassador membership · $49CHW Pro learners and Ambassadors: this series is included.Sign in to unlockRecord What Changed
Log one row per client goal during your practicum (up to 130 hours). A site supervisor initials each row. Record counts and minutes, never private health details.
| Date | Client goal (no names) | C3 role | Outcome | Minutes | Supervisor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Outcome codes: SC screening completed · RM referral made · RC referral closed (loop confirmed) · AK appointment kept · CB coverage or benefits application submitted · HE health education delivered.
Keep going: Cultural Mediation
The rest of this eBook — the scenario, unit check, Qwest lab, practicum log and answer key.
Get this eBook · $9.99All 12 eBooks + Ambassador membership · $49CHW Pro learners and Ambassadors: this series is included.Sign in to unlockAnswer Key
- B. Staying curious and learning from each person — Each person is the expert on their own life.
- C. Request a qualified interpreter — Do not use children to interpret health information.
- D. Bridges understanding in both directions — A bridge goes both ways.
- A. Culturally and linguistically appropriate services — CLAS = culturally and linguistically appropriate services.
- B. Ask the client's permission — Share with the client's permission and only what helps their care.
Source: Community Health Worker Pro, Force for Health Academy (2026). CHW certification, scope and payment rules vary by state and change; check your state's current rules. CHW Pro is a training program, not a state certification.
Keep going: Cultural Mediation
The rest of this eBook — the scenario, unit check, Qwest lab, practicum log and answer key.
Get this eBook · $9.99All 12 eBooks + Ambassador membership · $49CHW Pro learners and Ambassadors: this series is included.Sign in to unlock12 units. 160 hours.
Each eBook pairs with a video lesson in the Force for Health Academy and a station in the CHW Qwest.
theforce.health/community-health-worker · FFH Virtual LibraryKeep going: Cultural Mediation
The rest of this eBook — the scenario, unit check, Qwest lab, practicum log and answer key.
Get this eBook · $9.99All 12 eBooks + Ambassador membership · $49CHW Pro learners and Ambassadors: this series is included.Sign in to unlock