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Advocates Are Afraid to Do This – Until They Love to Do It
Earlier this year we hosted one of our APHA Workshop weekends*, with about 30 individuals who are somewhere in the process of growing an advocacy practice. The APHA Workshops were originally designed to support the BUSINESS of advocacy only. The idea was that most advocates have abundant skills and abilities to advocate – they’ve advocated for themselves and loved ones, and sometimes non-family patients for years. What they didn’t know was how to successfully start and run a sustainable business / practice to allow them to do their advocacy work. For five years, we hosted those original workshops all over the country, and student-advocates provided feedback indicating they were worthwhile. Until… about a year ago it became clear that there was one major piece in the teaching of the budding profession of advocacy that was missing, a piece that no one had really named yet. Those of us who are leaders in the profession could describe it, but we had trouble honing in on a concise description, or definition, or better yet, a single word that would allow us to communicate about it. This became even clearer at this year’s first workshop, mentioned above, where we added a component to address that missing piece. Some attendees, those new to advocacy, struggled to solve the real life patient / caregiver problems we posed. Observing some of the struggle helped me figure it out…. So today I’m going to name it, describe it, and then ask YOU to provide examples. Consider: A client needs something the advocate has never had to arrange or supply before, a scenario faced everyday by new advocates. The advocate may not even realize she needs to arrange or supply it, or she believes she needs permission to accomplish it, or maybe she is afraid to rock the boat… Her next steps require “HUSTLE.” HUSTLE is about getting your client from Situation A to the Solution B that he or she needs or chooses, often in a different direction from what the healthcare system would ordinarily offer, by finding a creative solution when no specific process or procedure already…