Clinical mental health counseling For this assignment, you will write a short paper about advocacy. Use the template provided in course resources as a guide. 1. Using a real or hypothetical scenario, consider advocacy issues you are aware of at the individual client level. Who is experiencing a barrier that hampers their well-being? What advocacy efforts would benefit the identified individual? What would it take for you to make that to happen? What resources are available? What barriers get in the way of advocacy efforts for this client? 2. Review the 20/20 Vision discussed in the chapter. Identify two of the seven principles that resonate most with you. How can you address this vision with your own advocacy efforts? What resources will you need? What barriers exist? Learning Objectives: • Understand effective strategies to support client advocacy, influence public policy, improve government relations, and promote programs that affect the practice of clinical mental health counseling. • Advocate for policies, programs, and services that are equitable and responsive to the unique needs of clients. • The delegates of 20/20: A Vision for the Future of Counseling identified these principles as important in moving the profession forward. Principles: 1. Sharing a common professional identity is critical for counselors. 2. Presenting ourselves as a unified profession has multiple benefits. 3. Working together to improve the public perception of counseling and to advocate for professional issues will strengthen the profession. 4. Creating a portability system for licensure will benefit counselors and strengthen the counseling profession. 5. Expanding and promoting our research base is essential to the efficacy of professional counselors and to the public perception of the profession. 6. Focusing on students and prospective students is necessary to ensure the ongoing health of the counseling profession. 7. Promoting client welfare and advocating for the populations we serve is a primary focus of the counseling profession.