Advocacy
The Alaska Mental Health Board and Advisory Board on Alcoholism and drug abuse advocate with constituents – meaning that the Boards provide opportunities for people experiencing mental health and substance use disorders to advocate for themselves and the issues that are important to them. Constituents are invited to participate directly in the Boards’ work through formal and informal public comment at meetings, through the annual budget deliberations, at periodical town halls across the state, and through social media. The Boards, with the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority and others, host advocacy events in Juneau and communities around Alaska to support constituents in speaking to state and local officials.
Advocacy is the act of influencing outcomes that affect people’s lives. It can be as simple as speaking out on an issue or writing a letter of support for an issue that you care about, to something as complex as organizing a support campaign or educating and motivating others about an issue.
Advocacy protects the rights guaranteed by the democratic tradition of equality and justice.
Advocacy is pressing for changes in policy, procedures and laws to protect existing rights and to create new ones. It’s also putting a problem on the agenda, providing a solution to that problem and building support for acting on both the problem and the solution.
All citizens have the right and responsibility to speak out and advocate in support for what they believe. Public officials — school board members, city council or Assembly members, state legislators and members of the U.S. Congress — are elected to serve the public. It is the role of the public official to work for their constituents, the citizens of their district, and it is the role of citizens to communicate what they need.
Please contact:
Stephanie Hopkins, Advocacy Coordinator
Alaska Mental Health Board
Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse
Email: stephanie.hopkins@alaska.gov
Telephone: 907-465-4667
Advocacy Materials
The information sheets below are a brief snapshot of the most current data for Alaska. They were created in partnership with the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority, the Alaska Commission on Aging and the Governor’s Council on Disabilities and Special Education. For more information, go to the Trust’s Joint Advocacy page.
2023 Joint Advocacy Materials
2021 Advocacy Materials
2020 Advocacy Materials
Join our ADVOCACY ACTION NETWORK, sponsored by the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority, to receive alerts and announcements about what is going on in Alaskan politics related to Trust beneficiaries (people with mental illness, substance use disorders, intellectual and developmental disabilities, Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia, traumatic brain injury, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, etc.).
The Alaska Mental Health Board and Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse work closely with stakeholders, the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority, and partner advisory boards, to inform grass roots advocates about legislative issues, connect voters with their elected officials, get out the vote, and more.
Click here to go to the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority web site
