On Professional Advocacy
What is Advocacy?
- Active support of an idea or cause etc.; especially the act of pleading or arguing for something
- An umbrella term for organized activism related to a particular set of issues
- The act of pleading or arguing in favor of something such as an idea, or a policy
- Speaking out on issues of concern. This can mean something as formal assitting down and talking to your legislator; as intensive as engaging in efforts to effect a change in laws or policies; as routine as sending an email; or as simple as talking to your neighbor about the impact of a law.
Efforts for Advocacy
in Our Profession
The North Carolina Career Development Association is pleased to offer a section on their website to inform members about issues affecting the counseling profession and the clients that are served. Working in conjunction with several other counseling/mental health professional organizations, specifically the NCDA (National Career Development Association) NCCA (North Carolina Counseling Association) and ACA (American Counseling Association) a collaborative effort is ongoing to build strong relationships with members of Congress, with officials at the White House and federal departments and agencies. Through our advocacy efforts, we hope to inform and educate members about key issues and lobbying for areas that impact the profession and clients that are served.
Hello THOMAS!!
One of the most significant improvements in letting constituents know about key legislative efforts is the THOMAS website: http://thomas.loc.gov/home/abt_thom.html.
This is the most comprehensive and user-friendly site for all citizens to access to keep up on legislative issues and where they are in the process. THOMAS answers questions such as these: Where is the bill at the current time? How did my Senator, Representative vote on a bill? What is on the calendar to be discussed today? What sections are good for teachers to use in his/her classroom? The list goes on…THOMAS is even user friendly for students to use to keep up with what is going on in Congress.
THOMAS was named after Thomas Jefferson, is updated daily and provides many options for finding answers. It also houses some excellent history lessons!! Take five minutes, link to THOMAS and you’ll be amazed what you’ve learned in just that short time!!
Stunning Realities About
Communicating with Congress
via the Internet
In a recent teleconference hosted by Brad Fitch at Knowlegis (http://www.knowlegis.net) and Stephanie Vance, The Advocacy Guru (www.advocacyguru.com), attendants came away with some stunning realities about the numbers of emails sent to legislators daily and the lessened value due to the unparalleled volume. No more strength in numbers! Americans have gotten the point about corresponding with their legislators to the point that it has become overkill for staffers, thus, leaving one to wonder whether this is really working. Corresponding with Congress via the quick and easy punch or two is now becoming a thing of the past, and the diehard advocate must go back to their ink pen and hand write their thoughts using a US Postage stamp!! This takes more time, alas!! But it's about the issues at stake that we sacrifice this time. If we really really want our message to be seen and heard, it must stand out from the rest; legislators have been known to vote for or against legislation based on one carefully crafted letter!
In a Policy Update teleconference with the ACA Office of Public Policy and Legislation, (http://www.counseling.org/publicpolicy) hosted by Scott Barstow, Peter Atlee and Chris Campbell from their Alexandria, VA office, attendants were carefully guided through thoughts that would make correspondence more valuable. Here are tips from that teleconference: name the person to whom you are sending correspondence, not a generic "Senator or Representative", mail the letter instead of sending an email, handwriting is even more convincing, only enclose a one page letter in the envelope as only one page will be read, only cover one issue at a time, keep a copy of your correspondence, plan to follow up with the office if you don’t hear back from them in three weeks. Keep your cupboard stocked with mailing labels, envelopes and (if you can afford them!), postage stamps, it’ll save you time in the end!
Choose Your Issue and Learn
All You Can About It
Before communicating with elected officials, it is imperative that you know your story and can articulate it either in writing or in person and deliver the message specifically and clearly. Or, you can tell a personal story, talk about the issues that your client is facing and the need for the official to support efforts to meet the needs of your client (using personal stories or vignettes). Here are a few websites of professional associations who are lobbying in Washington, DC to support many of our (and clients) efforts. Spend 6 minutes on a couple of these and you'll be surprised at how succinct their messages are:
The American Counseling Association (http://capwiz.com/counseling),
American Mental Health Association (http://www.amhca.org/policy/),
American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy (http://www.aamft.org/Advocacy/index_nm.asp),
American Psychological Association (http://www.apa.org/ppo/education/),
American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry (http://www.aagponline.org/advocacy/default.asp).
Find organizations who can benefit from the same issues; not every professional organization is working on the same issues as we are and some may even be voting against what we are for.
Quick and Easy Communication
Capwiz
Brief updates of current legislative initiatives.
http://capwiz.com/counseling/issues/
Find Your Representatives
Action Alert Sample Letter to Legislator
Sample letters: