Action and Reflection
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YOU ALREADY DID THE DISCUSSION: I NEED THE REPLY TO THE TWO POST BELOW
Legislative Action and Reflection
The path to becoming a clinical mental health professional has required you to develop strong personal skills, including skills in self-care, but fortunately you haven’t had to do it all by yourself. Throughout this course, you have been working with your peers, and together you have been making social change over the weeks of this course. This week, you and your peers will continue to pursue positive social change by advocating for legislative action.
For this Discussion, you will prepare to contact a legislative representative to advocate for legislative action on a topic that interests you, and you will reflect on how personal actions on advocacy can impact you and your current and future clients.
To Prepare:
· Review Part 3 of your Final Project and look for what you found compelling and would seek for further advocacy opportunities.
· Search the ACA websites (Including the ACA branches site) in this week’s Learning Resources to research current legislative concerns in the counseling profession, and select one legislative concern that interests you.
· Based on the issue you chose, determine whom to contact: your federal, state, or local elected official.
· Compose an email or letter to the chosen elected official about the legislative concern.
. Note: Your letter or email will be more effective if you address a single topic or issue rather than a variety of issues you may feel passionate about. Typed, 1-page letters are best. Many Political Action Committees (PACs) recommend a three-paragraph letter that is straightforward and to the point.
. Review the web article “Tips for Writing Effective Letters to Congress” in the Learning Resources for more recommendations on writing your e-mail or letter.
. Cite at least two scholarly articles in the email or letter to support your position.
. Keep the email or letter succinct (no more than 3 paragraphs).
REPLY 1
The Honorable Bill Cassidy
United State Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Senator Bill Cassidy,
My name is Nadine Vitenas and I am studying counseling the concerns for more advocacy in our society. I am concerned about price transparency. Prices of medical services should be transparent and clear when completing your medical visits. I am aware that Congress will be discussing the term on healthcare in January and I hope that you find my research applicable to your case of making medical care prices transparent.
What is the price transparency movement? The AMA Journal of Ethics describes price transparency as, “This movement has been made possible in recent years by a variety of new websites and tools that provide information directly to patients about the charges that they could face”(AMA). According to this article in the AMA Journal of Ethics patients receive services that will not help them get better, “First, we physicians should take ownership of our clinical decisions and make sure they are actually going to make our patients better” (AMA). A law should be in place for physicians to provide patients with services that are only essential for the betterment of their diagnosis.
Who would support us in our quest to change price transparency? Honestly, everyone. No person wants to receive a check in the mail after they have already paid a lump sum of money at the doctor. Most times patients will not be informed that they will receive an invoice after paying a fee at their health care physician’s office or hospital or urgent care. Democrats and Republicans would be for this law passing because it involves the secretive management of costs.
Sincerely,
Nadine Vitenas
22 Cressington Drive
Marietta, GA 30067
732-765-9876
REPLY 2
The Honorable Lindsey Graham 290 Russell Senate Office Building United States Senate Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator (Graham):
My name is Jolly Perkins, I am a student at Walden University, and I am writing to address the concern of law enforcement officers and the need for better counseling techniques. I am currently training to become a counselor, and I also served in the field of law enforcement for over six years. During my time I, along with my fellow officers, suffered tragedy both at home and at work, but many of us failed to seek counseling. There are several reasons for this, but I would like to address two with you. First, officers do not like seeking counseling, because they feel that they should be able to handle whatever comes there way (Wester, Arndt, Sedivy, and Arndt, 2010). Second, officers do not desire to attend facilities where people they have arrested may be required to attend (Fair, 2009).
Counseling is seen by many in law enforcement as a weakness. This is especially true in the male officers (Wester et. al., 2010). Many of our officers feel that they should be able to handle all aspects of the job. They tend to forget that they are actually human, and still need to seek assistance when it comes to stressful matters. We have many officers that turn to suicide in order to cope with the stress that they deal with (Mohandie and Hatchert, 1999). These are the people that are supposed to protect us, but we tend to forget who is supposed to protect them.
Many officers do not seek counseling because they do not feel comfortable attending a facility where people who they are arrested will also be attending (Fair, 2009). Even if the officer is not in group counseling they may still be required to sit in a waiting room with others who they have arrested in the past. This can add stress to the officer as they may feel that they are no better mentally than the people that they deal with. It can also present an issue the next time that the officer deals with this person on the street, because knowing that the officer is attending counseling the suspect may bring up issues such as this during their case to try and have the officers motives or mental stability questioned.
I feel that we need to look at having better options and techniques for law enforcement in regards to seeking counseling. I personally know that many officers would feel more comfortable speaking to a counselor who had law enforcement experience, because they feel that they know better what they are feeling. I feel that having a special field of counseling or those in law enforcement would be beneficial and may even help reduce some of the stress among these officers. By providing those officers with a safe place to seek counseling these officers may be able to obtain the help that they need to be both better officers, and handle the stress of their jobs more efficiently. I truly appreciate the time that you took out of your day to read this letter.