Advocacy Skills for Underserved Communities - February 21, 2025

A 6-Hour Training with Samson Teklemariam, LPC, CPTM

Virtual via Zoom | 8:30am-4:00pm

Presentation: 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 less 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 strategies and expectations to support the unmet needs of underserved communities.

As a result of this training, participants will be able to:

1. Assess community and patient needs, through the lens of advocacy;
2. Apply caseload management strategies that include community engagement and advocacy efforts for community resources; and
3. Conceptualize the ethical code for advocacy, social responsibility, and the technical skills of the modern behavioral health counselor.

6 Contact Hours Available

CRSW Performance Domains: 1-4
LADC/MLADC Categories of Competence: 6-7, 10, 12-13 & 15
Certified Prevention Specialist Domains: 2 & 4-5
NBCC: LICSW/L-MFT/LCMHC (Category A) & Psychologist (Category A) 

NH Alcohol & Drug Abuse Counselors Association has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider. ACEP No 6754. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. NHADACA is solely responsible for all aspects of the program.

This training is financed under a contract with the State of NH, Department of Health and Human Services, with funds provided in part by the State of NH and/or such funding sources as were available or required, e.g., the United States Department of Health and Human Services.