Advocacy and Mental Health

Advocacy. We use that word often, especially on social media, with a slew of hashtags. And I also think it’s something a lot of us actually do.

I’ve always been a passionate person and speak up when I think something is wrong, unjust, or unfair. I write senators and representatives, I make and sign petitions, I participate in events to uplift the word advocacy for a multitude of causes. I fear, though, that I’m stifling that voice here on by blog in the interest of focusing on just mental health.

The thing is, mental health advocacy is advocacy for the people who are the most marginalized, who are experiencing oppression, and against the systems that sustain it. I don’t hide my “Safe Space” sticker in my office because I want the people who need to see that sticker know they’re safe, so why am I not metaphorically showing it off here, for example?

I would like to and that is the purpose of this post. An announcement and a warning, of sorts. If you’re sexist, racist, xenophobic, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, or any other type of anti-human rights and equality, know that this blog will not reflect you.

I want this blog to reflect the people who need an advocate. Something I always admired about social work—another way of studying to become a therapist—was the emphasis put on advocacy. Their school of thought realizes that to advocate for mental health means to also advocate for a world in which mental wellness is possible for everyone, not just equally but equitably.  

As a woman, a feminist, a part of the LGBTQIA community, and a person living with invisible chronic illnesses, I have some idea of what it means to experience oppression. As a white, cisgender person, I also know what it means to benefit from privilege. I realize I must use privilege to be a voice—an advocate. True, I know this blog is blip on the radar, but I never know who is going to come across it and need to see that someone is out there seeing them.

That, right there, is what brought me to counseling in the first place. To see people who felt unseen and hear people who felt unheard and, by doing so, help them heal. I’m not in the position of counselor to my readers but I can be in the position of advocate.