{"id":136,"date":"2023-10-30T16:06:52","date_gmt":"2023-10-30T20:06:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.umaine.edu\/ccaplab\/?page_id=136"},"modified":"2025-05-07T12:53:32","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T16:53:32","slug":"cinical-resources-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/ccaplab\/cinical-resources-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Advocacy & Resources"},"content":{"rendered":"

Advocacy plays an important role for psychologists and is even one of the American Psychological Association (APA)\u2019s <\/span>competency benchmarks<\/span><\/a> for professional psychologists.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The APA outlined <\/span>several advocacy priorities in 2024<\/span><\/a>, many of which are rooted in <\/span>Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belongingness,<\/span><\/a>\u00a0 and overlap with the much of the research done in the C-CAP Lab.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It takes a certain amount of concerted effort to become involved in advocacy, and there are many ways to get involved in advocacy in small and big ways. The options can be a bit overwhelming and might leave you wondering, \u201cHow can I get started?\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

First, it is important to acknowledge that there are many different layers of advocacy. <\/span>These examples are taken from a wonderful APA Division 37 (Society for Child and Family Policy and Practice) presentation, <\/span>Promoting behavioral health equity through advocacy: Skills, strategies, and lessons learned<\/span><\/i> led by <\/span>Dr. Marilyn Sampilo, a pediatric psychologist who specializes in integrated behavioral health and health equity for marginalized communities.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Layers<\/h2>\n

Advocacy Spotlight: Sexual and Gender Diverse<\/span> Youth Mental Health<\/span><\/h2>\n

Sexual and gender diverse youth have <\/span>worse<\/span><\/b> mental health<\/span><\/b> compared to cisgender, heterosexual youth including higher rates of <\/span>depression, anxiety,<\/span><\/b> and <\/span>suicidal thoughts and behaviors<\/span><\/b> than cisgender heterosexual high school students. *Information based off of data collected by the Trevor Project in 2023 (https:\/\/www.thetrevorproject.org\/survey-2023\/<\/a>)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sexual and gender diverse youth face barriers accessing mental health treatment:<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

56% of sexual and gender diverse young people wanted mental health care in the past year but were unable to get it.<\/span><\/p>\n

These mental health difficulties are because of<\/span> minority stress, <\/span><\/b>or daily instances of discrimination that can occur at school, home or other places<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Laws and policies<\/span><\/b> that ban discussions about sexual or gender diverse topics, and anti-transgender laws also worsen mental health for sexual and gender diverse youth. Anti-Transgender laws cause up to <\/span>72% Increase in Suicide Attempts<\/span><\/b> Among Transgender and Nonbinary Youth. Read more about it <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ways you can advocate at every level:<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Self-advocacy<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n