Co-Designing for Impact
Co-Designing for Impact
The CHW Advanced Certification Program was developed through a collaborative process that prioritized community input, strategic partnerships, and a focus on equity. This approach ensures the program addresses real-world challenges and meets the evolving needs of Community Health Workers.
The Community Health and Social Medicine (CHASM) Care Worker Certificate Program
Involves a collaboration between CAPE, TIER, the Gattuso Centre for Social Medicine, and the Michener Institute of Education at UHN. In collaboration with over 100 CHWs, employers, and community stakeholders in Ontario, we have co-designed the Community Health and Social Medicine (CHASM) Careworker Certificate Program, set to launch its inaugural cohort in June 2025. The co-design process prioritized CHW and community voices including stakeholder input through the following steps:
- Interviews: Insights from CHWs working in diverse care sectors and community stakeholders shaped the program design.
- Storytelling Sessions and Summit: Reflecting the experiences and stories of CHWs to inform the program's core values and goals
- Design Element Prototyping Summit: Collaborative envisioning of the program's structure and content.
- Community Advisory Board: Providing ongoing guidance from a diverse group of stakeholders.
CHW Rapid Prototyping Summit
We conducted 20 initial Interviews from February to March, 6 virtual and 1 in-person Storytelling Session with 37 CHWs in March. From this initial CHW education co-design process, we produced a total of 51 stories, culminating in 18 representative stories that embodied themes from the initial interviews and storytelling sessions with CHWs.
These representative stories were shared with 61 participants at the Storytelling Summit in April, where they were encouraged to read them and reflect on their own peak experiences to identify common themes related to CHW strengths and hopes and were prompted to envision future aspects of the CHASM Careworker program. In June, we held the CHW Rapid Prototyping Summit, where 60 participants were asked to actualize prototypes for community-based experiential learning placements at the CHW Rapid Prototyping Summit.
These processes helped inform the program structure, course content, funding model, and marketing plan of the CHASM Care Worker Program
For a detailed look at the insights and outcomes from our Summits, you can read the full summit summaries:
The Process
The co-design process was central to creating the CHASM Program
Ensuring that the voices, experiences, and needs of Community Health Workers (CHWs) and their communities were at the heart of the program’s development.
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The Program
By directly involving CHWs and key stakeholders through interviews, storytelling, and participatory design, the process helped uncover the unique barriers CHWs face, including challenges related to their unregulated status, limited access to tailored educational programs, and the complexities of navigating both hospital and community-based systems.
This collaborative approach not only highlighted critical gaps in education and professional development but also allowed for the creation of a program that directly addresses these issues. The co-design process fostered a sense of shared ownership and accountability, ensuring the program reflects real-world challenges, while providing solutions that empower CHWs to succeed at the interface of community-based and hospital systems.
The program continues to:- Leverage existing resources at UHN/Michener to support program development.
- Incorporate feedback from CHWs and students to ensure real-world relevance.
- Focus on experiential learning opportunities.
- Foster interprofessional collaboration within community and clinical care settings.
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The Community Health and Social Medicine (CHASM) Care Worker Certificate Program offers a unique opportunity to gain advanced skills, advocate for your community, and strengthen healthcare equity.