creating change:

advocacy strategies that hit home

By learning how to effectively and consistently advocate for the profession of Athletic Training in their own unique setting, ATs can prioritize the health and safety of their patient population without sacrificing their own well-being, security, and growth.

why this workshop?

The current model of advocacy for Athletic Trainers is primarily executed by select individuals and/or committees, such as NATAPAC, and state Governmental Affairs and Legislative Committees. Athletic Trainers may take action, such as emailing or calling a local legislator, signing a petition, or attending an event, when prompted by these individuals. However, many Athletic Trainers feel that they do not have the time, tools, or tactics to advocate for the profession as a whole, and often, even for themselves in their own workplace settings. This lack of perceived resources and abilities contributes to a sense of professional dissatisfaction.

To combat this current situation, this workshop will review important concepts in advocacy, including identification of problems, potential solutions, and the actions and actors needed to execute those solutions at both a hyperlocal and national level. We will also explore messaging, strategies, and tactics that ATs can utilize to feel empowered and impactful in creating advocacy initiatives in alignment with both their own goals and the forward progression of the profession itself. Lastly, we will seek to create a sense of community in effort and achievement, to prevent the advocacy work from becoming another "task" that contributes to the already problematic incidence of burnout in the profession.

learning objectives:

Through the completion of this workshop, ATs will be able to competently and confidently:

  1. Define advocacy in a comprehensive and dynamic way.

  2. Identify the 3 types of advocacy and how each applies to Athletic Training.

  3. Assess examples of advocacy efforts to understand their intention and impact.

  4. Identify current opportunities for advocacy within the profession.

  5. Create the framework for an advocacy campaign that addresses their priorities and population.

WHAT ABOUT CEUS?

This presentation has been given at the 2025 America East Health, Safety & Performance Summit and the NY State Athletic Trainers Association Annual Meeting, was designed in alignment with BOC CE standards, and meets the requirements for submission as a Category D activity if your organization is not a BOC-approved CE provider.

what people are saying:

“You provided a great framework for us to start brainstorming and create conversation and we couldn’t have asked for anything more!”

“The work that you are doing in AT advocacy is unmatched.”

why i created this workshop:

As you may already know, a lot of the work I currently do is to help Athletic Trainers thrive in our profession by guiding them through recovery from burnout and strategizing on way for them to achieve professional satisfaction. However, while developing resources in alignment with those goals, I began feeling that while I might be helping individual ATs, I was inadvertently doing work that would allow systemic issues to continue as ATs found ways to be more resilient to those issues. To combat that, I began actively pursuing ways to create change at a systems level - from becoming the NYSATA Region Rep for New York City ATs, to creating advocacy resources for ATs everywhere.

Interested in empowering your ats to create change?

Email me at erica@thenotoriousatc.com to book this workshop for your next Athletic Training conference or summit!