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102.7 Advocacy and the Interdisciplinary Team
Speaking up with consent, and the CHW's place on the care team
Your materials
Slides (PowerPoint) Handout (Word)
For instructors
Facilitator guide Printable pre and post tests Quiz (LMS import)
What you will learn
- Tell the difference between individual and community advocacy
- Advocate for a client only with their consent and in their words
- Describe the roles of team members and where the CHW fits
- Act as a liaison between communities, agencies and providers
Start here
Think of a time someone spoke up for you. What did they do that made you feel heard, not talked over?
Lesson
Two kinds of advocacy
Individual advocacy
- Speaking up for one person or family
- Helping a client get a missed service
- Coaching a client to speak for themselves
- Example: getting an interpreter for a visit
Community advocacy
- Speaking up with a whole group or neighborhood
- Changing a rule, program or policy
- Bringing residents to the table where decisions happen
- Example: asking council for a safer bus stop
Speaking up with consent
We advocate with people, not for them without asking.
- Ask what they want: Find out the person's goal in their own words.
- Get consent: Ask permission before you speak to anyone or share any information.
- Plan together: Decide who says what. Offer to coach them to speak first.
- Speak with respect: Stay calm, stick to facts, and keep the person's goal in front.
- Report back: Tell the person what happened and decide the next step together.
Who is on the care team
| Team member | What they mainly do |
|---|---|
| Doctor, nurse practitioner, physician assistant | Diagnose, treat and prescribe |
| Registered nurse | Assess, plan nursing care, teach, may delegate tasks |
| Social worker | Counseling, complex case work, benefits and safety planning |
| Pharmacist | Explain medicines, check for problems, answer dose questions |
| Behavioral health counselor | Mental health and substance use treatment |
| Community health worker | Trust, education, navigation, advocacy, link to community |
The CHW as liaison
A liaison carries information and trust both ways.
- Community to clinic: Share what clients face at home, with consent, so the team can make a plan that fits real life.
- Clinic to community: Explain care plans and instructions in plain words and the person's own language.
- Agency to agency: Connect clinics, churches, schools and services so people are not lost between them.
- Community voice: Bring residents' ideas and concerns to the places where programs and policies are made.
From one client to a community issue
- What we see: Ms. Lewis in Fairfax keeps missing physical therapy. The clinic marks her as "noncompliant."
- Why it happens (upstream): Her bus stop has no shelter, sidewalks are broken, and the only appointments are during her work hours.
- What we can build on (assets): A block club that wants safer streets, the council office, a clinic manager open to evening hours, and neighbors who share rides.
Situation: the team meeting
Situation: At a care team meeting, a nurse says Mr. Kim from Old Brooklyn "doesn't care about his diabetes." You know he has been rationing insulin because of cost and is embarrassed to tell anyone.
What do you do?
- Do not share his private story unless he agreed
- If he consented, share the cost barrier respectfully, with facts
- If not, ask him first, then return to the team
- Suggest the pharmacist or social worker look at cost options
Talk it over
- When have you seen a label like "noncompliant" hide the real story?
- Which care team role do you know least, and how could you learn more?
- What community issue have you seen in three or more people you know?
Study sheet
The big idea: We speak up with people, with their consent, and we bring community knowledge to the care team as respected partners.
Key points
- Individual advocacy helps one person; community advocacy changes conditions for many.
- Always get consent before speaking for someone or sharing their information.
- Coach people to speak for themselves whenever they can.
- Each team member has a role; the CHW brings trust, culture and community knowledge.
- Refer diagnosis and medicine questions to the right team member.
- As a liaison, the CHW carries information and trust both ways.
Remember
- Advocacy steps: ask, get consent, plan together, speak with respect, report back
- Labels like "noncompliant" often hide a barrier
- Patterns across clients can point to a community issue
Ask yourself
- When do I find it hard to speak up, and what would help me?
- How do I make sure I am speaking with a person, not over them?
Vocabulary
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Advocacy | Speaking up so a person or community gets the services, rights and respect they need. |
| Individual advocacy | Speaking up with and for one person or family to solve a problem they face. |
| Community advocacy | Working with a group to change a rule, program or policy that affects many people. |
| Self-advocacy | When a person speaks up for their own needs; CHWs coach people to do this. |
| Consent | A person's clear permission before you act for them or share their information. |
| Interdisciplinary team | A group of workers from different fields who plan and give care together. |
| Liaison | A go-between who carries information and trust between communities, agencies and providers. |
| Scope of practice | The tasks a worker is trained and allowed to do in their role. |
| Barrier | Something that blocks a person from getting care, such as cost, transportation or language. |
Real-life situations
No interpreter at the visit
Mrs. Nguyen, who speaks Vietnamese, is at a clinic in Cleveland's AsiaTown. Staff ask her 12-year-old granddaughter to interpret.
What to do
- Ask Mrs. Nguyen if she wants a professional interpreter
- With her consent, politely ask staff for a trained interpreter
- Explain that children should not interpret medical information
- Afterward, check that she understood her care plan
Why: Clear communication is a right, and children should not carry adult medical information. This is individual advocacy with consent.
The same problem, again and again
Three of your clients in Clark-Fulton tell you the nearest pharmacy closed and they now take two buses to get medicines.
What to do
- Write down the pattern without names in your notes
- Share it with your supervisor as a community issue
- Ask clients if they want to join a resident meeting about it
- Help residents bring the issue to a council member or health system, with partners
Why: When many people face the same barrier, community advocacy can fix it for everyone.
The doctor's orders
After a hospital stay, Mr. Thompson in Lee-Harvard says his discharge papers confuse him and he is not sure which pills are new.
What to do
- Do not tell him which pills to take or stop
- With his consent, help him call the pharmacist or discharge nurse
- Help him write his questions down before the call
- Use teach-back to check he understands what they tell him
Why: The CHW is the liaison: medicine decisions belong to the pharmacist and provider, but the CHW makes sure the connection happens.
Activity: Speak up script
About 20 minutes.
- Pick one of the situations in this module.
- Write a short script: how you ask for consent, what you will say to the provider or agency, and how you report back.
- Keep it to facts and the client's goal. Use no real names.
- Practice it with a partner, then switch roles.
- Post one thing you would change after practicing.
Post-test
Ten questions. You need 75% to pass, with one retake. Your result is saved in this browser.