Building additional skills
Community Navigators indicated that future trainings should include activities to develop a more in‐depth and diverse skillset, including more practice communicating about sensitive topics and promoting healthy coping strategies. Community Navigators shared that their training prepared them well for interacting within their social networks but that they experienced challenges in a few areas. Community Navigators felt they would benefit from more skill‐building, particularly through role‐playing, that emphasized effective ways to talk about sensitive and complex topics, such as how to engage in dialogue around a recent positive HIV diagnosis. Many Community Navigators noted that they found it difficult to have conversations about mental health, healthy coping strategies and how to overcome fear among social network members to access services when needed. They noted that more training would be useful to build their skills and increase their self‐efficacy to have these difficult conversations.