American Music Therapy Association



			American Music Therapy Association, Inc. 8455 Colesville Road, Suite 1000 Silver Spring, Maryland 20910, USA Phone: (301) 589-3300 Fax: (301) 589-5175
		What is Advocacy? The mission of the American Music Therapy Association is to advance public awareness of the benefits of music therapy and increase access to quality music therapy services in a rapidly changing world.


Advocacy is...
	for anyone
			Regardless of experience or professional training, a successful advocate is someone with passion and commitment for a cause or an idea, who tells a convincing story expressing their beliefs and passion.

	a process that requires perseverance
			Few advocacy campaigns are immediately successful. The process of making the target of the campaign aware of the subject, problem, solution, and their role in the solution takes place over a period of time with a series of contacts including letter writing, phone calls, emails, and personal visitations. (For more information on the proper way to make these contacts, please see Communicating with Congress). Hopefully the target begins to believe in the cause and is ready to take action, as well as convincing others to join the cause in a domino effect.

	a language
			The wording used during advocacy can and will have an impact on the target's perception of the subject and eventually their involvement in the solution, so it is important to always speak to the needs of the client and not the advocate.






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	AMTA is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and accepts contributions which support its mission. Contributions are tax deductible as allowed by law. Copyright © 1999, American Music Therapy Association.