Public Health Digital Badges
We offer two public health digital badges: a Mental Health Navigator Skills Badge and a Social Justice Series Experiential Badge.
Learn about accessing mental and emotional health services, and/or increase your knowledge on social justice.
What is a Digital Badge?
A digital badge is a graphic verification of the skills you have mastered after successfully completing some form of professional learning or an experience in which you have participated. A digital badge is an icon, but it is not a static image. It is clickable and houses information such as the issuing institution, the date earned, the criteria required to earn the badge and the evidence that shows that you have met the required criteria. Digital badges are a great way to share your professional learning achievements and new competencies with employers, colleagues, friends and family via social platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, or through an open backpack.
Digital Badges Offered by the Public Health Program
Mental Health Navigator Badge
This skills-based badge will give you the skills needed to assist community members in accessing mental and emotional health services. The navigator training includes participating in a Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training; an international education program proven to be effective in teaching adults how to recognize and respond to signs and symptoms of mental health and substance use challenges. The MHFA training is an eight-hour training course designed to give members of the public key skills to help someone who is developing a mental health problem or experiencing a mental health crisis.
After you successfully complete this badge, you will:
- be able to assist someone experiencing a mental health crisis
- feel more comfortable managing a crisis situation and have greater mental health literacy
- have the skills to better understand and respond to signs of mental illness
- have greater confidence in providing help to others, greater likelihood of advising people to seek professional help, improved concordance with health professionals about treatments, and decreased stigmatizing attitudes.
How to Apply:
For more information contact solanoconnex@gmail.com
Social Justice Series Experiential Badge
The series provides an introduction to public health and social justice topics through an innovative speaker series, reflection and discussions of social determinants of health. The focus of the series is determined on an annual basis (e.g., environmental justice and public health; public health in times of pandemics: the effects of COVID-19 and police brutality on inequities in health,; and public health and wellbeing during times of COVID and racial injustice). The series includes individual and panel presentations from experts in the field of public health and social justice.
There are multiple badges available, one for each Social Justice Series. Each series contains five to six sessions that include a lecture or panel presentation, followed up by a question and answer period. Each session is approximately 90 minutes to two hours in length. You are required to review the recording and complete a short reflection assignment for each session in a given series.
After successfully completing this course, you will have a better understanding of:
- how structural factors and community characteristics influence an annual thematic topic related to public health and social justice
- the health, community, and quality of life consequences of the specific public health and social justice theme of your badge series
- multiple public health strategies to address the specific public health and social justice theme of your badge series