Counselors entering behavioral health often report feeling unprepared for their day-to-day work. Community treatment programs and behavioral health centers have come to accept that the technical skills of "how to be a counselor" in today’s environment are the training responsibility of the hiring organization. As the Affordable Care Act expansion continues, more underserved communities with higher acuity and fewer resources are filling caseloads, and their needs continue to go unmet because the counseling workforce has not been trained on how to advocate properly for patients who qualify for more services than they are receiving. There’s a need for advanced training on advocacy skills for underserved communities to help curb the gap in care delivery matched with identified needs. In this presentation, participants will learn the importance of advocacy skills and how to adjust caseload management expectations to support the unmet needs of underserved communities.

Advocacy Skills for Underserved Communities