Specific Population and the Advocate Role Paper and Presentation

Specific Population and the Advocate Role Paper and Presentation
Maribel Moore
Advocacy and Mediation/BSHS 441
May 21, 2012
Instructor Deborah Worth

Specific Population and the Advocate Role Paper and Presentation In today’s society, there are many people who suffer from mental disabilities and are in need of services to live independently in his or her community. Because of the need of services, persons with such debilitating disabilities need a person or persons to advocate for him or her and help find the proper services. In this paper I will explain the issue of advocacy in the human services field as well as how an advocate may assist with certain problems, such as housing, transportation, employment, and much more. Mental Disabilities and the Issues Persons with mental disabilities are discriminated against and stereotyped because of the issues that affect them on a day-to-day basis. Often times, persons with mental disabilities do not have a go-to person who he or she can go to in need of a crisis. Because of this he or she may choose the wrong thing when making a decision. When advocating for a person with mental disabilities began, it begun with the families of the person with the disability and worked towards helping the person who has the mental disability (World Health Organization, 2003). There are many areas explored while advocating for a person who has a mental illness. Some of those areas are information, education, training, mediating, and defending (World Health Organization, 2003). There are many areas in which a person who has mental disabilities, face when dealing with “normal” life and activities and hurdles have to be crossed. Some of these areas are lack of housing, employment, lack of mental health services, unattainable costs for medical treatment, and many more (World Health organization, 2003). Because of the issues that people with mental disabilities face, he or she often believes he or she is helpless and thinks there is no person or place to turn to in a time of need. When this happens, he or she becomes despondent and many times do not take the proper steps as well as his or her medication to help him or herself.
Advocating for Persons with Mental Disabilities To be an advocate for a person with a mental disability, a person needs to be willing to go the extra mile and take the proper steps in understanding what the person may need. This may mean finding help for his or her family as well. When advocating for a person with a mental disability, finding the proper resources is most important. Some resources people with mental disabilities may need are housing, employment, social skills training, education, and health care (NAMI.org). There are many support programs in communities to help people with mental disabilities, but finding the right one for the person with the disability is the tough part. When advocating for a person with a mental disability, the advocate should do research on what is available in the community such as, financial support. Financial support may come in different forms such as, applying for Social Security, Medicaid, or public assistance (NAMI.org). The Social Security Administration should be able to give the advocate some information on if the person who has the mental disability is eligible for any services and what services. Many persons with mental disabilities need long-term support so he or she can continue his or her medication as well as monitor his or her symptoms. If this does not happen the person with the disability may find themselves in a hospital or a psychiatric ward and have more issues when he or she is released into society. When a person has another person advocating for him or her, he or she has a better sense of his or her health. The person with the mental disability also believes that with an advocate he or she is heard and his or her autonomy may improve (Harrison & Davis, 2012).
Conclusion
Advocating for a person with mental disabilities is very rewarding. The person being advocated has a sense of belonging and need in his or her life. The person who is advocating another also has a sense of comfort in knowing that he or she is there for someone. The advocate also achieves a sense of belonging in helping the other person to improve his or her life by continuing his or her medication, acquiring a place to live, and a support system to continue with his or her daily life.

References:
Harrison, T., & Davis, R., (2012), Advocacy: time to advocate, http://apt.rcpsych.org/content/15/1/57.full
NAMI.org, (d/uk), YOU ARE NOT ALONE, Finding Help for People with mental Illness and Their Families, http://www.namisandiego.org/otherlit/notalone.pdf
World Health Organization, (2003), Advocacy for Mental Health, http://www.who.int/mental_health/resources/en/Advocacy.pdf

References: Harrison, T., & Davis, R., (2012), Advocacy: time to advocate, http://apt.rcpsych.org/content/15/1/57.full NAMI.org, (d/uk), YOU ARE NOT ALONE, Finding Help for People with mental Illness and Their Families, http://www.namisandiego.org/otherlit/notalone.pdf World Health Organization, (2003), Advocacy for Mental Health, http://www.who.int/mental_health/resources/en/Advocacy.pdf