Panel Discussion 1 - A Beginner's Guide to Advocacy: How to Get Involved at Any Career Stage

Psychological science has increasingly attempted to reckon with its historical role in advancing and reinforcing oppression, but the assumption and promotion of political neutrality in science still lingers today (APA, 2021; Rodriguez-Seijas et al., 2023). Yet, historical analysis shows that synergy between science, advocacy, and activism has contributed to shifts towards social progress (ACLU, 2023; Epstein, 1996; Kimmel & Browning, 1999), where science can, and must, play a role in advancing social change (Milkoreit et al., 2015; Nadal, 2017). Since improving science and promoting equity are both socially driven, many students want to be involved in advocacy but do not know where to begin. This panel brings together a socioculturally diverse group of six clinical and counseling psychology predoctoral trainees with extensive experience in advocacy at the macro, meso, and micro levels. Panelists will start by sharing how they began advocacy work as students, while emphasizing how their intersectional identities and life experiences led them to choose their specific interests. Next, panelists will help attendees think about how to begin advocacy work in their own contexts, including choosing an area of need, identifying pre-existing advocacy efforts, beginning new ones, and infusing advocacy work into their research. By using a ‘mini-workshop’ format, panelists will then discuss navigating subtle and overt pressures to disengage from social change-making efforts, roles of guilt, burnout, and hopefulness in advocacy work, balancing the emotional and strategic difficulty of working and negotiating within a system, and engaging in self-care as an advocate. Discussions will also explore using community-based participatory research as a form of advocacy, and how students can work to promote diversity, equity, and inclusivity of specific marginalized groups to whom they may belong, treat clinically, or conduct research in service of (e.g., sexual and gender minorities). Additionally, the early-career moderator will provide insights to how the suggestions from panelists may be continued after transitioning out of a student role. Attendees will leave the panel with actionable insights and steps that they can implement readily in their communities.