Kiselica & Robinson (2001) point out the community outreach programs may be beneficial for clients but also the counseling profession. This notion is supported by other research including that of Myers, Sweeney & White (2002) who suggest that professional associations can create venues for counselors to share knowledge, training and standards, as well as provide advocacy advancement and help the profession remain credible (394).
Though advocacy programs in the past have focused primarily on the needs and abilities of school counselors and educational representatives, counselors must broaden their perspectives so advocacy may now include all branches of the counseling field. This may require additional training and resources, but will help strengthen the credibility and success of the profession. Advocacy efforts will also help raise community awareness and strengthen the ability of counselors to develop their clients over short- and long-term periods.
Conclusions
Advocacy is an important component of the counseling profession. In times of old advocacy issues were primarily reserved for the educational or school counseling field. Today however, new approaches to advocacy can benefit counselors and clients in any type of counseling arrangements.
A new model of advocacy must include community involvement and developmental advocacy to help strengthen counselor's ability to improve patient's outcome for the future. Counselors should work toward not simply treating patients, but also work toward developing them and helping amend the communities in which they live so that the community in turn also supports itself and the counselor's potential clients.
For counselors to effectively adopt an advocacy framework they must first assert their mission as promotion of optimal development and improvement for all patients (Lewis, Cheek & Hendricks, 2001; Kiselica & Robinson, 2001). Akos & Galassi support a developmental advocacy framework instead of a client advocacy framework, which is the traditional method adopted by most counselors. Developmental advocacy enables counselors to work more toward "changing an environment so it meets the needs of clients" (Bradley & Lewis, 3).
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Advocacy and Counseling
