Advocacy Development

Consumer advocacy empowers persons impacted by disease to directly communicate needs to the systems charged with fulfilling those needs. When persons living with disease speak truth to power, systemic change is more likely.  has vast experience in leading multiple series of sessions that establish, train, and design advocacy campaigns targeting state legislatures. The process involves an expressed specific desire to enliven or establish a statewide network and a commitment to have multiple interactions over the course of a year(s) to move the advocacy efforts forward. The local resources to support this approach are typically overwhelmed with the activities of operating their own programs with very limited staffing thus requiring an external person to aid states in this effort. This form of patient education and awareness combined with specific knowledge about the payer system for persons living with HIV, Hepatitis, or STDs empowers the voices of those impacted by funding, program design, and policies.