Advocacy Strategies for Health and Mental Health Professionals: From Patients to Policies

[I]t is becoming much more common for mental health providers to become community mental health advocates, and given the complexities and nuances associated with tasks such as getting involved with legislative issues or fund raising, a work like this serves an important and useful purpose. It is concise, yet revealing, and explains concepts in clear and practical language. Most importantly, it delivers on its promise to transform its readers into more savvy participants in the process of advocating for their mental health patients.＂--Doody’s Medical Reviews

This book provides a valuable introduction to the discerning mental health practitioner who wants to apply their advocacy skills into their everyday work place.＂--ACAMH, The Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health

Great book! Learning to be an effective advocate in multiple arenas is essential for all health professionals, particularly physicians. This text utilizes a broad definition of advocacy and provides information that can be used by multiple types of providers to learn effective strategies to educate and inform others. It is readable with fascinating case examples and practical tips that can be utilized flexibly across a range of issues, formats and audiences. It is a great addition to the libraries of anyone practicing in the health care field, regardless of specialty or years of practice.＂

Arden D Dingle, MD
Program Director, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Emory University School of Medicine

A wealth of advocacy tools for health and mental health professionals at all levels of training and practice are included in this clear and comprehensive volume. Written by medical, legal, and policy experts, it fills a void in the literature by addressing multiple topics in advocacy in the health field as a whole. The text addresses the legislative process, provides step-by-step approaches for using the media, and discusses when to seek an attorney, when to litigate, working with family and community, and funding strategies. It also covers such seldom-addressed topics as leveraging research findings for advocacy purposes.

Two outstanding features of the text are a discussion of the rationale for advocacy and a call for readers to examine their own motivations for this work, and a chapter by health educators who provide guidance about advances in learning theory that will help readers assimilate the material. The volume will serve as both a resource for advocacy coursework and as a guide for the independent practitioner of advocacy.

Key Features:

• Provides a wealth of advocacy tools for health professionals at all levels of training and practice
• Written in a clear, straightforward manner for easy access
• Includes a unique metacognitive theory that will help readers to thoroughly integrate the information and provides tools for self-analysis
• Highlights main teaching points with summaries, case studies, and reflection questions