A Psychiatrist's Guide to Advocacy

Overcoming fear, ambivalence, and inertia to act on behalf of self or others
can be difficult even for mental health clinicians who are accustomed to helping
patients overcome challenges. A Psychiatrist's Guide to Advocacy explores the
diverse definitions of advocacy and helps to identify methods and opportunities
for advocacy by mental health practitioners. The editors argue for a greater
culture of advocacy among psychiatrists in order to effect broad and lasting
systemic and structural change. A noteworthy example is the push for insurance
coverage parity between mental health and other medical care. However,
legislative advocacy is just one of the many types explored in the book;
advocacy takes many forms, including patient-level advocacy, organizational
advocacy, education and research as advocacy, and media-targeted advocacy. Also
addressed are specific issues of advocacy for special populations, including
children and families, older adults, LGBTQ patients, and veterans. Taken
together, these chapters represent a practical toolkit for mental health
advocacy in its myriad forms.

In prose both compelling and accessible, the
volume Identifies five of the most pressing systemic problems in mental health
care (lack of access to quality payer-covered, evidence-based mental health
care; the psychiatry workforce shortage; lack of parity for mental health care
compared with other forms of health care; the stigma against both consumers and
providers of treatment for mental disorders, including substance use disorders;
and high rates of physician burnout) and explains how advocacy at different
levels can address these issues. Describes the essential factors needed for
effective advocacy, with emphasis on pathways to mentorship, providing examples
of what integrating advocacy into the psychiatrist's career path looks like and
identifying strategies to encourage lifelong advocacy Delineates the advocacy
needs of diverse patient populations, including children, families, and older
adults; LGBTQ, non-native, and substance-using patients; veterans and military
service members; and more Includes four substantive interviews with advocacy
role models who embody and embrace the advocate's mission, expressed in actions
and on platforms that are diverse and illustrative Includes learning objectives
that tell readers what they can expect to master by the end of each chapter,
allowing for focused reading and easy review

A Psychiatrist's Guide to
Advocacy is a call for action and a blueprint for change, providing clinicians
with the foundation for recognizing their opportunities and embracing their
roles as advocates.