Advocacy Competency Domains -ARTICLE FORDISCUSSION
Introduction
As a counselor, you will sometimes be in the role of advocate.An advocate is someone who acts on behalf of someone else, or whoempowers someone to become a self-advocate
Advocates can act on behalf of individual clients. They can alsoadvocate for issues within an organization, and sometimes forissues within the public arena.
Advocates often engage with social and political issues. Thismay be surprising, because most people are drawn to counselingbecause they want to help individuals. However, it’s important tounderstand that individuals are affected in powerful ways bysocial, political, economic, and cultural factors. Members ofmarginalized groups sometimes are oppressed in both overt andimplicit ways. Counselors need to understand societal factors inorder to effectively advocate for individuals.
Different kinds of advocacy are appropriate for differentsituations. Read on to see some different ways that a counselormight choose to advocate for a client.
Advocacy Competency Domains Chart
The Advocacy Competency Domains chart shows ways that acounselor might advocate for a client. There are three broaddomains in this advocacy competency chart: client/student,school/community, and public arena.
The diagram is divided into two rows: The top row represents howcounselors can work with an individual or group to makes changes.The second row represents how professional counselors act on behalfof clients to deal with the various barriers they are facing.Whether acting with or acting on behalf, the impact may be at themicro or macro level (Erford, 2014).
Let’s see how this chart applies to a specific client.
Applications
This is Jasmine, a 23-year-old graduate student. Jasmine feelspressure to excel in her program, especially because she is theonly African American student. Jasmine has always been unhappy withher body. She compares herself unfavorably against her Caucasianmother, a former professional dancer who is petite and blonde.
This past year, Jasmine has lost a good deal of weight, and herbody mass index is approaching the official categorization foranorexia. She has heard from various people throughout her lifethat “black girls don’t get eating disorders.†When she recentlymet with an elderly male counselor at her college, he was skepticalthat an African American woman could be anorexic.
Jasmine is confused—and scared because she’s been feeling faintand is having trouble concentrating on her studies.
This is Stacey, Jasmine’s counselor. Stacey wants to be anadvocate for Jasmine. Here are some possible ways she can dothis.
Client/Student Empowerment
The Client/Student Empowerment level is about helping clients tocontextualize their situations within a societal context andempowering clients to self-advocate. If Stacey were to choose thislevel of advocacy, she would begin by discussing with Jasmine howgender roles and racial issues have affected her negativeself-image. Then she would help Jasmine come up with an action planto address her eating disorder and her negative self-talk. Shewould work with Jasmine to find appropriate resources.
Client/Student Advocacy
The Client/Student Advocacy level involves counselors acting onbehalf of clients to negotiate issues related to societal factors.If Stacey were to choose this level of advocacy, she would begin bydiscussing with Jasmine how gender roles, racial issues, and otherissues related to social systems have impacted her negativeself-image. Additional discussion regarding her social systemswould be important as well, including discussions about her familyand her academic self-expectations. Then she would help Jasminecome up with an action plan to address her eating disorder and hernegative self-talk. She would work with Jasmine to find appropriateresources.
Community Collaboration
The Community Collaboration level involves working with othersin a community to make changes that positively impact clients.
If Stacey were to choose this level of advocacy, she mightlocate groups on Jasmine’s campus that are working to promotechange related to eating disorders and form alliances with thesegroups. She would share her knowledge with these groups, includingher understanding of the special needs of women of color witheating disorders.
Systems Advocacy
The Systems Advocacy level is about understanding and smallersystems (like families) and larger systems (like communities)work—and about advocating for change within these communities.
If Stacey were to choose this level of advocacy, she might workwith the university counseling department to identify gaps in theirability to help students with eating disorders. She might help themdevelop a step-by-step plan to improve their treatment. Inaddition, she might involve Jasmine’s family in her treatment as away to better understand the situation.
Public Information
The Public Information level involves distributing informationand building awareness about issues across disciplines andsettings.
If Stacey were to choose this level of advocacy, she might givea presentation on Jasmine’s campus about women of color, bodyimage, and eating disorders. She might also write an editorial fora local paper about these issues or start a blog.
Social/Political Advocacy
The Social/Political advocacy level involves advocating forpublic policy or possible legislative change.
If Stacey were to choose this level of advocacy, she might joina national women’s organization and get involved with anorganizational committee that addresses eating disorders. As amember of this national organization, Stacey might petition theDepartment of Education to get more actively engaged in the issueof women of color and eating disorders.
As you can see, there are many different ways that a counselorcan choose to be an advocate. Keep these methods of advocacy inmind as you develop your own sense of who you want to be as acounselor, and think about the ways that you might see yourselfacting as an advocate.
Review the media presentation, \"Advocacy Competency Domains,\"SEE ABOVE
In this discussion, you will present a plan forcollaborating with other professionals and advocating on behalf ofa client.
For this case, assume that the client has signed a consent fortreatment that included permission to consult with other experts onan as-needed basis. Consider and reference your assigned readingswhen building your plan for how to collaborate and advocate foryour client.
Case 1
Parents have contacted you aboutcounseling for their teenager. The family immigrated to the US whentheir child was two years old. Despite some challenges, they feeltheir family has made a positive adjustment to a new culture. Theycontacted you because they are concerned about their teen's pooracademic performance, which has plummeted since the beginning of9th grade. They are also distressed because a beloved grandmotherwho lived with the family recently passed away; this happened aboutthe same time their teen's grades began to drop. Their teen hasalso withdrawn from friends and usual social activities and hasexpressed self-consciousness about being \"different.\" The parentsare concerned but are not sure how to proceed. They hope that youcan speak to the school counselor because they feel intimidatedabout going to their teenager's school themselves.
