Advocacy Case

Advocacy is defined as the process of advocating or supporting a cause one believes in. In the mental health field a counselor or therapist will make a decision to advocate for a client by deciding what treatment is in the best interest of their client or patient. The mental health counselor or therapist will also consult with other professionals in the medical field before deciding what treatment is best for the patient. Once this medical team is assemble the counselor or therapist will communicate with the client, the client's family, and medical team to ensure the needs of both the patient and family are met. The counselor's role as the patient advocate continues as the counselor becomes more aware of the external factors that have become issues in their client's individual development.

As a future licensed mental health counselor patient advocacy and patient consult are two very important concepts I must learn and understand. From my understanding advocacy is defined as helping patients or clients express what they want verbally by securing their rights while still representing their interest but also receiving the help they need. As for consultation I have defined it as obtaining information from multiple medical professionals who are also involved in the personally welfare of a patient or client. These two areas of the mental health counseling profession are to provide information to both patient and counselor to help he or she make an informed choice concerning their welfare and those who are involved in their everyday lives as well.

According to the article titled "Are Consultation and Social Justice Advocacy Similar? Exploring the Perceptions of Professional Counseling and Counseling Students" consultation and advocacy are implemented to help increase the potential for counselors to provide services based on strength identification, the removal barriers of growth, and the facilitation and liberation of human development. The advocate role of a counselor is also directed to readdress past and present social oppressions of their client's current social environment. The area of consultation involves acting on behalf of their client through interaction with another professional counselor concerning the client's welfare (Moe, Perera-Diltz, and Sepulvede 2010). My professional counseling career will focus on the mental health of troops returning from multiple tours of duty to combat zones overseas as well as counseling their family members.

The stigma of mental illness in the U.S. Military has become a barrier for providing adequate mental health care to our nations veterans and active duty service members. Currently 19 % of service members returning from an overseas tour to Iraq or Afghanistan will suffer from either depression or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Others return with psychological and emotional trauma as well. This percentage also includes those who will experience