Clinical Mental Health Counselors: Case Study

Advocacy for Clinical Mental Health Counselors

An issue of interest I have would include supporting the Mental Health in Schools Act of 2013. The original act has gone through various iterations and has had various sponsors. The latest sponsors are Senators Grace Napolitano, a democrat from California, and Chris Gibson of New York. It is now titled the Mental Health in Schools Act of 2015. This act is one of many acts the American Counseling Association considers as high priority. The Mental Health in Schools Act of 2015 was first introduced January 31, 2013 (American Counseling, 2016). This act would increase students’ access to on-site mental health services. This act would establish new grant programs to support education agencies and community

Although there are many, an example includes the need to increase empirically supported mental health practices that are focused on youth. Also, there is a need to advocate for coordination of services that impact youth while also holding these same services accountable for youth identification and treatment. Another suggestion is to engage families and youths in the treatment planning and decision processes; and, finally, reaching out to community stakeholders is a necessary advocacy strategy in order to increase the awareness and knowledge of mental health issues and resources that effect youth in their

This process is important because counselor advocacy extends itself by influencing policy at various levels and enhances components that affect the practice of clinical mental health counseling. Advocacy is important because it works to remove barriers and challenge social injustices that impede the wellness for clients and society (Kiselica & Robinson, 2001). For example, supporting counselor advocacy is important because counselors can benefit by acknowledging and understanding that there must be a multiple systems approach to counseling. At the local level, counselor advocacy is both necessary and important for the purpose of building coalitions and collaborating to inform various societal entities about the benefits of mental health services and its impact. At the state and national level, counselor advocacy work can inform particular legislative bodies about the particular types of impacts that would occur if there is limited or a lack of mental health resources available to particular populations (Kiselica & Robinson,