Community Health & Wellness Educator

About Whitman-Walker Health

Whitman-Walker envisions a society where all persons are seen for who they are, treated with dignity and respect, and afforded equal opportunity to health and wellbeing. Through care, advocacy, research, and education, we empower all persons to live healthily, love openly, and achieve equality and inclusion. For over 40 years, we have been meeting the needs of our communities with the endless dedication of our diverse teams.

Job Summary

The Community Health and Wellness Educator (CHW Educator) provides HIV testing, outreach, and education in one-on-one and group sessions related to PrEP/PEP, STIs risk reduction, and general sexual health and wellness through specific outreach to priority populations as dictated by programmatic needs. The CHW Educator facilitates group-level intervention programs in the CH Department and is responsible for helping people learn how to improve their well-being and overall health.

Core WWH Primary Essential Duties:

• Performs and behaves in accordance with Whitman-Walker’s mission, cultural norms, and core values of dignity, respect, affirmation, and humility.
• Maintains a respectful, non-judgmental, and compassionate manner with patients/clients/staff.
• Demonstrates excellent customer service by identifying and exceeding customer requirements.
• Adheres to Whitman-Walker policies and procedures, with special attention given to HIPAA requirements.
• Maintains data integrity through conscientious use of relevant tools and employing a system of checks and balances.
• Demonstrates organizational skills necessary to multi-task, meet deadlines and re-prioritize as needed.
• Participates in organizational quality and performance improvement activities.

Role-Specific Primary Essential Duties:

• Greets patients upon arrival and departure, demonstrating impeccable customer service skills, showing respect for diversity, and an embrace of WWH’s core values.
• Advises clients on how to access WWH services and shares policies, procedures, approximate cost of services, and accepted forms of payment.
• Plans, develops and designs health education and training programs, including preparation, facilitation, and follow-up.
• Conducts community outreach and group educational sessions with priority populations, in accordance with the HIV prevention program outreach plan, including promotion of PEP/PrEP, HIV/STI testing services, referrals to Whitman-Walker programs, and enrollment of new clients in WWH services, when needed.
• Provides individual and group preventive health counseling on a variety of topics, including sexual health, nutrition, sexual violence prevention, exercise, and smoking cessation.
• In collaboration with Medical, Community Health, and Medical Adherence staff, identifies and recruits potential candidates to serve as peer educators/Mentors; Identifies HIV education

resources (pharmaceuticals, HIV/AIDS Administration, AETC, etc.) to provide HIV treatment adherence education to participants in the program; Assists in developing policies and procedures for the program.

• Furthers establish peer Mentor competency guidelines; Pairs peer Mentors with appropriate Mentees; Monitors the efficacy of the peer support program by conducting periodic qualitative interviews with program participants and reviewing objective adherence measures (i.e. Mentees’ attendance to medical visits, viral load, CD4 count, etc.)
• Collaborates and serves as a program lead to (5) lead support mentors and peers.
• Provides support to peer mentors as needed to navigate challenges in mentor/mentee relationships.
• Helps develop, identify, implement, and improve patient education material and other tools that encourage healthy decisions.
• Maintains current knowledge base on specific health issues, particularly in area of expertise.
• Collaborates with the Health Education team to plan and carry out various health projects aimed at health promotion.
• Provides HIV, STI, and general sexual health and wellness-related information using age-appropriate, culturally sensitive, agency-approved materials/models and approaches.
• Assesses the sexual health and wellness needs of individuals based on agency-approved risk assessment and counseling sessions and educates individuals on the importance and availability of other healthcare services, such as cancer screenings.
• Provides HIV and STI testing and prevention counseling in both clinic and mobile-testing settings, referring to appropriate community-based and Whitman-Walker programs and/or providers.
• Coordinates logistics of initial medical appointments for all individuals testing HIV-positive and individuals seeking PEP/PrEP.
• Responds to calls from the CH/PEP telephone line in a timely manner.
• Assists with maintenance of testing supplies, incentive items, and other physical inventory.
• Provides generalized information about WWH services to include medical, behavioral health, dental, aesthetics, occupational therapy, CTRS, PEP, Rapid services, appointment reminders, closings, patient portal, no-show policy, financial obligations, public benefits/insurance navigation, and other services as appropriate available to both new registrants and existing patients.
• Follows up with patients to ensure linkage to care and treatment services and PrEP care.
• Collects data and documents all work activities according to established standards, for the production of weekly, monthly, and annual reports and assists with the creation of those reports as necessary.

• Works closely with clients and their partners in evaluating present health management program and assists in formulating plans for future wellness programming. • Protects patients’ rights by maintaining confidentiality of personal and financial information.

• Responsibilities include other duties as assigned, including special tasks involved in responding to an emergency event.

Budget Responsibilities

• None

Management Responsibilities

• None

Core WWH Knowledge, Skills, and Talents Required:

• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision.
• Ability to manage time and effort to meet strategic objectives.
• Knowledge of principles and processes for providing excellent customer service, both internal and external.
• Knowledge of all applicable WWH policies and procedures.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Knowledge of healthcare information systems with the ability to adapt to new electronic medical records and population health platforms.

Education and Experience Required

• Bachelor's Degree in psychology, social work, public health, or related field or at least three years of relevant work experience preferred.
• A minimum of one year of experience in mentoring clients is required.
• HIV testing and training certification from INSTI required.
• At least one year of experience developing and providing training modules and technical assistance activities preferred.
• At least one year’s experience in facilitating professional training activities or two years in social services field preferred.
• At least three years of experience conducting HIV/STI testing, counseling, and outreach preferred with experience in providing counseling to people living with HIV also preferred.
• At least three years of experience working directly with members of target populations including group facilitation and providing one-on-one interventions preferred.
• Certification for CDC approved group level interventions preferred

Working Conditions:

Working conditions for this position are normal for an office environment. Individual may be required to work evenings and/or weekends and organization events.

Physical Demands:

• Lifting: No more than 20 lbs. and infrequently.
• Movement: Standing and sitting for long periods.
• Visual: Long periods on the computer.
• Concentration: Extended periods of engagement with computer systems where concentration is key to accuracy in data entry. Intermittent periods of engagement with a telephone system to respond to inquiries where concentration is key to task performance.
• Communication: Direct and indirect communication. Written and verbal competency.

Whitman-Walker is an equal employment opportunity employer and does not discriminate against applicants, its employees, or former employees based on race, color, religion, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, and gender identity. For accommodation in the application process, please contact Human Resources.