Advocacy for Marginalized Population

Assignment Instructions For this assignment, you will compose a letter to a legislative member which advocates for them to take specific action on the topic of conversion therapy policy. In your letter, you should emphasize evidence and research-based reasoning to support your platform. However, you should not completely disregard the use of anecdotal evidence of patients to emphasize the human and emotional elements of the subject. The use of rhetoric or other persuasive writing strategies is also recommended (see the Riverbend City: Making a Case with Solid Rhetoric media piece for extra practice, if you have not already worked through it). Additionally, keep in mind that you are advocating from your role as a counseling or therapy professional on behalf of clients or populations you work with. While your personal feeling may or may not align specifically with the professions platform on the issue, it is important that you are able to differentiate between your professional responsibilities and personal views. In your letter, make sure to address the following: Present your counseling or therapy profession (for example, Clinical Mental Health Counseling), your ethical obligation to advocate for marginalized populations, and scientifically grounded practice. What counseling or therapy profession are you approaching this issue from? How do your profession and ethical code guide you towards advocacy for marginalized populations and scientifically grounded practice? Explain the risks to the identified population for which you are seeking legislative protection. What are the risks facing the identified population? How do these risks endanger or negatively impact individuals from this population? Why do these risks warrant legislative protection? Describe how therapeutic interventions grounded in best practices promote help-seeking and optimal development among individuals and families. What are examples of therapeutic interventions grounded in best practices? What is the evidence that these interventions promote help seeking and optimal development among individuals and families? How is this relevant to the population and issue you are writing about? Advocate for specific legislative or policy action on the grounds of its benefits for a specific population. What is the specific legislative or policy action? What are its benefits for a specific population? Why are these benefits worthy of the time and resources to create new legislation or policy? What are the risks of not taking legislative or policy action? Communicate an argument regarding an advocacy issue that is persuasive, respectful, and promotes interdisciplinary collaboration between counselors or therapists and relevant governmental offices. Apply the principles of effective composition. Determine the proper application of the rules of grammar and mechanics. Apply a persuasive technique to your writing.