Learn It
Live It
Share ItProfessional Conduct
in the Academy
🤝 Welcome, future CHW!
Your role, your ethics and your boundaries. This unit is 12 hours of CHW Foundations and CHW Pro training across video lessons, group practice, this eBook and the Qwest station.
By the end you can
- Describe what CHWs do and do not do (scope of practice)
- Apply CHW ethics: respect, honesty, confidentiality and self-determination
- Set and keep professional boundaries with clients
AZ core competency: Professional skills and conduct
Professional Conduct
Who CHWs are
CHWs are frontline public health workers who know their community well. They bridge the gap between people and the health and social services they need. Trust is the foundation of the job.
Scope of practice
CHWs educate, connect, coach and advocate. They do not diagnose, prescribe, give medical advice or provide therapy. Your state's rules and your employer set your scope. When you are not sure, ask your supervisor.
Ethics you can see
Treat every person with respect. Be honest about what you can and cannot do. Keep what people tell you private. Support the client's own choices, even when you would choose differently.
Professional Conduct continued
Boundaries protect everyone
Be friendly, not a friend. Do not lend money, give your personal phone number or connect on personal social media unless your organization allows it. Follow your organization's gift policy. If you know a client personally, tell your supervisor.
Professional habits
Be on time. Do what you say you will do. Write notes the same day. Use supervision to talk through hard cases. Keep learning: many states ask certified CHWs to take continuing education.
Words CHWs Use
The tasks a role is trained and allowed to do.
A limit that keeps the helping relationship safe and professional.
When you have a second relationship with a client, such as being a neighbor, relative or business partner.
Regular support from a more experienced person who helps you with cases, safety and growth.
Ms. Lopez's thank-you gift
Ms. Lopez is grateful you helped her get her son's asthma medicine covered. She hands you a $50 gift card and asks for your personal cell number so she can text you at night.
Your CHW steps
- Thank her warmly for the kind thought
- Explain your organization's gift policy in plain words
- Give her the work phone number and your office hours
- Tell your supervisor and note the offer in your record
- At the next visit, check on her son's medicine and her next goal
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: Professional Conduct
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
- Diagnosing high blood pressure
- Changing a client's medicine dose
- Providing therapy for depression
- Helping a client prepare questions for the doctor
- Thank them and follow your organization's gift policy
- Take it so you don't offend them
- Take it and give it to charity
- Refuse and stop working with them
- Say nothing
- Tell your supervisor so you can decide together
- Drop the client
- Share family news to build rapport
- The CHW decides what is best
- The doctor decides everything
- The client makes their own choices
- The family decides
- Never; just remember it
- At the end of the month
- Only if something went wrong
- The same day
Answers are on page 11. In the Qwest this is the Boss Quiz — score 80% to earn the station badge.
Keep going: Professional Conduct
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 1 Qwest Lab
Every challenge uses this unit. Each one earns Live It coins and moves you toward the next CHW rank.
Keep going: Professional Conduct
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:
- Explain to one person what a CHW does and one thing a CHW does not do.
- 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: Professional Conduct
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: Professional Conduct
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
- D. Helping a client prepare questions for the doctor — CHWs coach and connect. Diagnosis, medicine changes and therapy belong to licensed clinicians.
- A. Thank them and follow your organization's gift policy — Be gracious and follow your organization's policy.
- B. Tell your supervisor so you can decide together — Possible dual relationships go to your supervisor.
- C. The client makes their own choices — Support the client's own choices, even when you would choose differently.
- D. The same day — Same-day notes are accurate and protect the client and you.
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: Professional Conduct
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: Professional Conduct
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