So it's national athletic training month and you want to do your part to help advocate, but you're not sure where to start. I think a lot of people get it into their heads that to advocate you have to do some type of big gesture, something that will create large scale change, and that just isn't true. The point of advocating is to spread awareness and understanding for our profession or common issues that our profession is working to change. Sometimes, instead of aiming to reach the whole world at once, it is better to work locally. By advocating in your site or city, you can better help to make structural and cultural changes.
First, in order to create any real change for yourself, you must ensure that those you work with and around understand the value and purpose of athletic trainers. If you have local and community support, then advocating on a larger scale become easier. By advocating to your patient population and stakeholders, you create a better understanding for the needs of your profession, which will help you down the line to advocate for improvements in your facility, supplies, salary etc.
I am going to give you a few simple examples of ways you can easily advocate for the topic of your choice. Since I currently work in a secondary school setting, these ideas are geared more towards that setting and audience.
1. Posters/Infographics
Probably the least time consuming thing you can do is to hang up the posters we receive from NATA magazine around your school/institution/athletic training facility. This is an easy way to catch people's attention as they pass by, or are waiting around bored. These posters are designed to be eye catching and informative. The poster sent out this month was "athletic trainers are essential to health care." This poster aimed at explaining how the resourcefulness of athletic trainers during the covid-19 pandemic is just one example of how we as athletic trainers can make ourselves useful and necessary in health care management.
Similarly, Infographics are tremendously informative and also simple to find/create and hang around. Infographics take a more targeted approach, focusing on educating about a specific topic, such as hydration or concussion protocol. Identify some areas in your clinical population that you feel are constantly misunderstood or commonly occur and search the web for an infographic (or make your own!) You can hang these up, hand them out to individuals after they receive an eval or treatment, or pass them out to parents/other stake holders.
2. Billboard
This one is a great option if you have one available to you. If you work in a secondary school, they usually have billboards in classrooms and throughout the halls that get used for announcements, class projects and as creative platforms. If you have a billboard in your athletic training facility, use it (not just in march) to share information to those who come in and out of the athletic training room. You can decorate it and fill it with advice on how to eat healthier one month, and maybe fill it with resources and information on mental health and finding help another month. During athletic training month, you can use it to help explain athletic training or clarify common misconceptions about the profession. If you don't have a billboard in your room, talk to the school administrators about utilizing a common space billboard during march.
3. Student Aid program
A more long term and lasting way to advocate and spread awareness through your local institution is to create a student aid program. Student aid programs are great because they provide students who are debating a career path, or who are looking for observation time and experience, a chance to see athletic training first hand. Not only is the student gaining experience and knowledge about the profession, but the athletic trainer gets some extra help as well. This is a more time consuming process but the results are long lasting, so the effort is worth it. You can set this program up as a extra curricular club, that you are the supervising staff for. You'll need clear guidelines and rules into what the students can expect to do and see, as well as what they are not allowed or qualified to do. You can also see if your school has a sports medicine class available to students, and work with the teacher of that class (or maybe that’s you) to have each kid do a few weeks of after school work with the athletic trainer. This can be as a part of a project, or as just an extra credit requirement of the course, be creative! There are so many students who are likely interested in athletic training or would be if they had more opportunity to experience it first hand.
4. Sports medicine class highlight/Career day
Finally, if your institution does have any type of sports medicine class or career day, make sure athletic training gets a shout out! I had so many kids come up to me at my secondary schools asking why I didn't speak at their career day, and it's just because I didn't know! In the class athletic training should be highlighted as a potential career for those who enjoy the class. Career day is a great way for kids of all ages to see an athletic trainer and hear about athletic training, directly from an athletic trainer that they know. This also helps to spread awareness to the parents and teachers as well, who can become useful allies in advocacy.
For more inspiration check here!: National Athletic Training Month Gets Off to Strong Start
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