The 101 Guide to Addiction Advocacy

NAADAC NAADAC.ORG NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ALCOHOLISM AND Phone: 800.548.0497 Fax: 800,377.1136 Email: [email protected] Website: www.naadac.org DRUG ABUSE COUNSELORS a ddictionblog.org 1001 N. Fairfax St. Suite 201 Alexandria, VA 22314 "a" is for addiction THE ASSOCIATION R ADIGTON PREIESSIALS YOUR VOICE COUNTS ADDICTION ADVOCACY 101 WHAT IS ADVOCACY? WHAT'S THE GOAL OF ADVOCACY? From Latin for "voice". Advocacy is the process of influencing the public's attitude towards a specific issue or group. The end point is getting a concrete, specific answer from a legislator or bureaucrat on your particular request. WHY BECOME AN ADVOCATE? Legislators cannot be experts in everything, but they want to understand their constituents. You have expert power..no one else can give policymakers the front-line information you have! That's the way our system works! CThe First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees your right to petition the government.) You contribute to the betterment of your profession, community, clients, and country. Individuals are always the target-ultimately people make decisions, not institutions. NAADAC PRIORITIES PRIORITY ISSUE 1: Ensuring that both the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Wellstone-Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity (Parity) Act are fairly and effectively implemented. 32 Expands health insurance coverage to 32 million Americans About 5 million of these newly insured will meet medical diagnostic MILLION MILLION criteria for a substance use disorder Services such as screening, early intervention, treatment, and recovery support should be provided in the same manner and in the same primary care settings as services for any other illness PRIORITY ISSUE 2: Growing and developing the addiction professional workforce in the 21st century. DEMAND IS INCREASING. 67,000 CLINICIANS There are an estimated 67,000 addiction-focused clinicians in 104,200 EMPLOYMENT The Department of Labor projects employment to be 104,200 by 2018 the U.S. About 5,000 new counselors must enter the field every year in order to maintain the current levels of service 5,000 This does NOT take into account NEW COUNSELORS the impact of the ACA! TURNOVER IS HIGH. COMPENSATION IS LOW. THE DEMOGRAPHICS ARE SKEWED. 18% 11% $37,700 70% ($19/HOUR) INCOME The annual turnover rate has been estimated to be over 18% (11% national average for all workforces) The median income of addiction counselors was $37,700 (S19/hour) in 2009 About 70% of the workforce is female. The average addiction professional is 45- 50 years old. PRIORITY ISSUE 3: Increasing federal and state funding levels for addiction treatment. The Substance Abuse and Prevention Treatment Block Grant (SAPT) is the The SAPT is the most important program that provides addicted individuals treatment single largest funding stream for state treatment programs Funding for the SAPT Block Grant has been stagnant for the last several years, yet the demand for services continues to rise The SAPT Block Grant serves our nation's most vulnerable, low-income populations SAPT BLOCK GRANT FUNDING DESIRED CHANGES Maintain the existing structure of the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) Block Grant, with 20 % set aside for substance abuse prevention Increase total funding for the SAPT by $50 million. 2005 $1,775,554,720 2006 $1,757,425,446 2007 $1,758,591,000 2008 $1,758,727,939 2009 $1,778,591,000 2010 $1,770,591,000 2011 $1,778,591,000 THE DATA: YOU'RE LISTENED TO MUCH MORE THAN LOBBYISTS "If your Member/Senator has not already arrived at a firm decision on an issue, how much influence might the following advocacy strategies directed to the Washington office have on his/her decision?" 60% 39% 1% In-person issue visits from constituents 44% 52% 40% Individualized postal letters 47% 49% 40% Contact from a person who represents many constituents (e.g. organizational leader, elected official) 34% 60% Individualized e-mail messages 15% 77% Visit from a lobbyist 30% 61% 90% Individualized faxes 20% 68% 12% Phone calls 30% 62% 35% Form postal letters 60% 37% Form e-mail messages 30% 54% 43% Form faxes A lot of influence Some influence No influence at all One hundred form letters have less direct value than a single thoughtful letter generated by a constituent of the Member's district. STEPS TO ADVOCACY Follow up, follow up, follow up. Establish your position on a specific piece of legislation. Contact your State Senator and Congressional Representative. Draft your argument. WHEN CONTACTING YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS Give your name and address. C Identify yourself as a constituent. Ask for something specific. Describe personal experiences related to the issue. Ask to hear back from the Stick to one issue. Member of Congress. Quality is more persuasive than quantity. The content matters. The operating assumption of many congressional staff is that the more time and effort constituents take to communicate, the more passionately they care about the issue. ASK YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS TO. Offer an amendment during floor consideration or a committee mark-up. Send a "Dear Colleague" letter on your issue. Speak in favor of your position in public. Talk/write to committee Find a colleague on the other side of the aisle to work with. Talk/write to Administration office about your issue. chair about your bill. ŞE Introduce a bill. Cosign a letter on your issue. Cosponsor a bill. What we care about is that a constituent not only took the time to write a communication to us, but that he/she understands the fundamentals of the issue at hand and makes a rational, well-conceived argument for the position. THE WAITING GAME You WILL NOT hear back for If you don't hear back within three weeks, and/or get a form letter, contact the office again. If/when you hear back, it's likely to be a form letter. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. AT LEAST 3 - 4weeks. OTHER WAYS TO ADVOCATE VOLUNTEER ON A POLITICAL CAMPAIGN HOLD A PRESS CONFERENCE EXTEND A SPEAKING INVITATION STAGE A PROTEST WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR SPEAK BEFORE A COMMITTEE JOIN A COMMUNITY GROUP RUN FOR OFFICE POST A BUMPER STICKER ON YOUR CAR SPEAK ABOUT POLITICS TO YOUR FRIENDS/ FAMILY/NEIGHBORS PARTICIPATE IN A MARCH POSTA YARD SIGN Data and research provided by NAADAC, infographic by Addiction Blog a ddictionblog.org n NAADAC NAADAC.ORG TE