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InstructionsSubmit a Letter to the Editor as an assignment by the end of Day 7. It should support your media advocacy strategic plan.At the top, direct it to the editor of a specific newspaper that would be influential with your media advocacy policy maker(s). This needs to be a real newspaper and editor that would plausibly influence your policy maker (e.g., the San Jose Mercury News, Sacramento Bee, Washington Post, etc.), but you do not have to actually send it to the newspaper. Please use the letter to the editor format required for that newspaper.Please write this letter as though it is from one of your pressure groups identified in your strategic plan, and you are the organization’s spokesperson. It should be written to frame your issue as a public health problem with a policy solution, use your media bite, and employ suggestions from the readings and lectures about crafting this kind of opinion piece for strategic purposes. Its purpose is to advance your policy. Max 150 words.
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Group Members: Diania Marcos, Sandy Phan, & Jennifer Mullins
1. What is the public health problem?
Mental Health Issues among undergraduate, graduate, doctorate students, ages
18 to 28 years old in Los Angeles, California.
2. What is the specific policy solution you’d like to see enacted?
One specific policy that we would like to see enacted is more accessible and
affordable counseling services on college campuses. Accessible counseling is
important for college students because it can provide them with the support they
need during a crucial time in their lives. College can be a stressful and
overwhelming experience, and having access to counseling services can help
students navigate through challenges, manage their mental health, and promote
overall well-being. It’s important to have a safe space where students can
express their thoughts and emotions, receive guidance, and develop coping
strategies. This can ultimately contribute to their academic success, personal
growth, and long-term mental health.
3. Who has the power to vote for or enact this policy?
To enact our affordable counseling services within college campuses, it is
essential to work with the state of California, City of Los Angeles, and each
college campus in Los Angeles to improve mental health concerns. The power
to vote will be for all residents living in Los Angeles, California.
4. What message (i.e., media bite and/or social math statement) would convince
those with the power to enact this policy?
Media bite: “Today many college students face mental health challenges, yet
many are not able to access affordable counseling due to financial barriers. We
urge you to prioritize funding for affordable counseling services. Mental health is
a right. Ensure every student has the resources to succeed academically and
thrive mentally.”
“Break Barriers for Health Minds: Affordable Counseling All Students”
5. What would be the best way to reach these policy makers using the media?
College Campuses post on their social media and all platforms a brochure
informing their students about the different types of services such as counseling
available on campus with information as when/where and how to schedule
appointments. Social media has a huge impact on many college students, some
good and some bad. Having this information and services on school websites is
also another great way to reach these policy makers For those who do not use
social media.
Resources
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-07-13/schools-struggle-to-meet-demandsof-students-mental-health-needs
Diana Marcos, Jennifer Mullins, Sandy Phan
Professor Apaydin, PM526 Communication in Public Health
27 February 2024
Creating a Strategic Media Advocacy Plan
To begin with, our public health issue looks at college students, which includes
undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students, and how they are experiencing more mental
health problems compared to previous years (Zivin 2009). Our public health solution is to enact a
public health policy to create accessible and affordable counseling services on college campuses.
In continuation, individuals that have the power to pass a new policy or move it forward
are vital to providing students with mental health support. Local, state, and federal government
officials can propose legislation to offer grant funds to support and move forward mental health
initiatives. College Administrators such as deans, university presidents, professors, and
additional leadership administrators can speak with expertise as first hand witnesses to the
challenges students face and advocate for the need for assistance. Students can advocate for their
own mental health through mental health campaigns to raise awareness. Lastly, mental health
professionals can provide expert opinions and offer support to increase resources available to
students. Together these individuals play a key role in advocating and advancing change.
There are organizations dedicated to mental health advocacy with the goal of advancing
and expanding mental health resources available to those that need it. The National Alliance on
Mental Illness (NAMI) is the largest grassroots mental health organization in the United States.
NAMI offers support, education, and advocacy for individuals experiencing and affected by
mental health challenges (NAMI, 2024). The American College Health Association (ACHA) is a
national organization dedicated to advancing the well-being and health of college students.
ACHA provides advocacy, research, education, and resources to college students. These
organizations are vital to advancing mental health services and resources in colleges.
With the idea that policy makers go through multiple media advocacy plans everyday, it’s
important to keep our message captivating, clear, and concise. Messages these pressure groups
can use may be about the increasing prevalence of mental health amongst college students and
how these numbers rise every year. As the number of mental illnesses arises, the amount of
student dropping out of school, substance abuse, and even suicide can increase as well. Thus the
impact of affordable counseling services may improve mental health concerns that are faced
among college students.
Today many college students face mental health challenges, yet many are not able to
access affordable counseling due to financial barriers. We urge you to prioritize funding for
affordable counseling services. Mental health is a right. Ensure every student has the resources to
succeed academically and thrive mentally. Almost 9 out of 10 (89%) of students who face
academic challenges say that it affects their mental health (ACHA, 2022).
The state of California, Los Angeles County colleges, and the government are considered
as the decision makers for mental health counseling among college campuses. In order to reach
out to these decision makers, the usage of television news and radio ads will be more prominent.
Television news and radio ads normally play as morning rituals and announcements. By
consistently playing our media bite every morning within television news and radio ads, we can
reach out to our target decision makers. This can create a sense of relevancy and etch a message
in the minds of our decision makers.
Work Cited
American College Health Association. American College Health Association-National College
Health Assessment III: Undergraduate Student Reference Group Data Report Spring 2022. Silver
Spring, MD: American College Health Association; 2022.
National Alliance on Mental Illness. (2024). Retrieved from https://www.nami.org/home
Zivin, K., Eisenberg, D., Gallust, S. E., & Golberstein, E. (2009a, January 28). Persistence of
mental health problems and needs in a college student population. Journal of Affective
Disorders.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165032709000093?casa_token=w9EbBOM
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