Community Health Worker: Direct Service Within Scope
🎮 Qwest
The Force for Health
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Community Health Worker Pro · Unit 10 of 12

Direct Service Within Scope

GoalBasic help, mental health awareness and crisis response
EarnStation 10CHW Qwest12 hrstoward 160
Crisis protocol988Trauma-informedStigma
12 hours5 key ideas4 terms5-question unit check
Scan & playStart Unit 10
in the Academy
Reality Health Gamestheforce.health/chw/direct-service/
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Community Health Worker Pro · Unit 10: Direct Service Within Scope

🫶 Welcome, future CHW!

Basic help, mental health awareness and crisis response. This unit is 12 hours of CHW Pro training across video lessons, group practice, this eBook and the Qwest station.

📘 LEARN ItRead the key ideas and terms, and watch the unit videos in the Academy.
🎮 LIVE ItWork the scenario, take the unit check and play the Qwest station.
📣 SHARE ItSave 988 in your phone and tell one person it exists.

By the end you can

  • Describe direct services a CHW may provide within scope
  • Recognize signs that someone may be struggling with their mental health
  • Follow a crisis protocol and connect people to 988 or 911
Standards: C3 Role 7: Providing direct service
AZ scope area: Providing direct services (in Arizona, certified CHWs do not provide physical or behavioral health services)
▶Watch the Unit 10 lessons 🧭Open Qwest station 10
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Community Health Worker Pro · Unit 10: Direct Service Within Scope
Learn It · Key Ideas

Direct Service Within Scope

What direct service means

Direct service is hands-on help such as delivering a food box, helping fill out a form, or, where you are trained and allowed, basic first aid or simple screenings. Your state's rules and employer decide what is allowed.

Know your limits

CHWs do not diagnose, prescribe or provide therapy. In Arizona, certified CHWs do not provide physical or behavioral health services. When a need is clinical, connect the person to the care team.

Mental health awareness

Mental health conditions are common and treatable. Changes in sleep, mood, eating, drinking or pulling away from people can be signs someone is struggling. Listen without judging, and offer to connect them to help.

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Community Health Worker Pro · Unit 10: Direct Service Within Scope

Direct Service Within Scope continued

Crisis response

Stay calm and stay with the person. If you are trained and your protocol says so, ask directly about suicide; asking does not put the idea in someone's head. Call 911 for immediate danger. Otherwise connect them with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, and tell your supervisor right away.

Trauma-informed care

Many people have lived through trauma. Offer safety, honesty, choice and a voice in decisions. Ask "What happened to you?" in your mind, not "What is wrong with you?"

Coach Lucy Tip · Connect, don't direct. The client leads, the care team makes the medical calls, and you build the bridge between them.
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Community Health Worker Pro · Unit 10: Direct Service Within Scope
Learn It · Key Terms

Words CHWs Use

Crisis protocol

Your organization's step-by-step plan for safety emergencies.

988

The Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988 any time.

Trauma-informed

An approach that offers safety, trust, choice and a voice to people who may have lived through trauma.

Stigma

Negative beliefs that make people ashamed to ask for help.

📇Flip the term cards
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Community Health Worker Pro · Unit 10: Direct Service Within Scope
Live It · Scenario

A hard moment on a check-in call

On a routine call, Mr. Lee, 45, says he lost his job and adds, "Some days I don't see the point anymore."

Your CHW steps

  1. Stay calm, listen and stay on the line with him
  2. Ask directly about thoughts of suicide, as your crisis protocol directs
  3. If he is in immediate danger call 911; otherwise connect him with 988 together
  4. Tell your supervisor right away and follow your crisis protocol
  5. Document the facts, follow up, and get support for yourself

In the Qwest, the steps are shuffled. Put them in the best order to help the client and earn your LIVE It coins.

🎬Play this scenario
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Keep going: Direct Service Within Scope

The rest of this eBook — the scenario, unit check, Qwest lab, practicum log and answer key.

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Community Health Worker Pro · Unit 10: Direct Service Within Scope
Live It · Unit Check

Check Your CHW Skills

1. Which is outside a CHW's scope?
  1. Delivering a food box
  2. Helping fill out a benefits form
  3. Providing therapy for depression
  4. Connecting someone to 988
2. Asking someone directly about suicide:
  1. Puts the idea in their head
  2. Should be avoided
  3. Is always against the rules
  4. Does not put the idea in their head and can open the door to help
3. A client says they have a plan to end their life today. You:
  1. Call 911 and follow your crisis protocol
  2. Wait until tomorrow
  3. Change the subject
  4. Promise to keep it secret
4. The 988 Lifeline can be reached by:
  1. Email only
  2. Call or text 988
  3. Mail
  4. Fax
5. A trauma-informed approach offers:
  1. Quick fixes
  2. Strict rules with no choices
  3. Safety, trust, choice and voice
  4. Blame

Answers are on page 11. In the Qwest this is the Boss Quiz — score 80% to earn the station badge.

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Keep going: Direct Service Within Scope

The rest of this eBook — the scenario, unit check, Qwest lab, practicum log and answer key.

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Community Health Worker Pro · Unit 10: Direct Service Within Scope
Live It · Play

Station 10 Qwest Lab

Every challenge uses this unit. Each one earns Live It coins and moves you toward the next CHW rank.

📖LearnFlip through the key ideas.📇Term CardsFlip each term and its meaning.🎬ScenarioChoose the best next step for the client.🔗MatchPair every term with its definition.👑Boss Quiz5 questions. 80% wins the badge.
🗺️Open the full CHW Qwest map
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Keep going: Direct Service Within Scope

The rest of this eBook — the scenario, unit check, Qwest lab, practicum log and answer key.

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Community Health Worker Pro · Unit 10: Direct Service Within Scope
Share It

Teach It Forward

The fastest way to master a skill is to teach it. Your Share It challenge:

  1. Save 988 in your phone and tell one person it exists.
  2. Use teach-back: ask them to explain it in their own words.
  3. Post what you learned (no client names) in your group or the Share It Studio to earn SHARE It coins.
Coach Lucy Tip · Privacy first. Share the lesson, never the person.
📣Open the Share It Studio
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Keep going: Direct Service Within Scope

The rest of this eBook — the scenario, unit check, Qwest lab, practicum log and answer key.

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Community Health Worker Pro · Unit 10: Direct Service Within Scope
CHW Practicum Log

Record 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.

DateClient goal (no names)C3 roleOutcomeMinutesSupervisor

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.

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Keep going: Direct Service Within Scope

The rest of this eBook — the scenario, unit check, Qwest lab, practicum log and answer key.

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Community Health Worker Pro · Unit 10: Direct Service Within Scope
Check your work

Answer Key

  1. C. Providing therapy for depression — CHWs connect people to treatment; they do not provide it.
  2. D. Does not put the idea in their head and can open the door to help — Asking directly does not increase risk and can help.
  3. A. Call 911 and follow your crisis protocol — Immediate danger means 911 and your protocol.
  4. B. Call or text 988 — Call or text 988 any time.
  5. C. Safety, trust, choice and voice — Safety, trust, choice and voice.

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.

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Keep going: Direct Service Within Scope

The rest of this eBook — the scenario, unit check, Qwest lab, practicum log and answer key.

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The Community Health Worker Pro series

12 units. 160 hours.

Each eBook pairs with a video lesson in the Force for Health Academy and a station in the CHW Qwest.

⭐ FREE: 10 Things to Know🤝 1. Professional Conduct💬 2. Communication and Relationships🌉 3. Cultural Mediation📣 4. Culturally Appropriate Health Education🧭 5. Care Coordination and System Navigation🌱 6. Coaching and Social Support📢 7. Advocacy and Capacity Building🔎 8. Individual and Community Assessment🚪 9. Outreach🫶 10. Direct Service Within Scope📊 11. Evaluation and Research🛡️ 12. Safety, Law and Self-Care
FREE 10 Things eBook · $9.99 per eBook · $49 for all 12 + Ambassador membership · $495 for the full 160-hour CHW Pro course (proposed) · $149 for CHW Foundations
The Force for Healththeforce.health/community-health-worker · FFH Virtual Library
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Keep going: Direct Service Within Scope

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
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