Advancing Health Equity
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My desired future role as an addiction counsellor will include serving clients from different backgrounds. I am responsible for advancing health equity by ensuring that everyone can access psychological care despite their economic and social background. One of the things that can be done to advance health equity in psychological care is to collaborate with community health workers to connect community members with psychological care resources. In most communities, individuals may be having psychological issues but are reluctant to see a psychological expert because they may not afford to pay for the services. The growing misconception that psychological care is expensive has also created a barrier to accessing psychological care among many people in the community. Therefore, collaborating with community workers to identify individuals needing psychological care is vital because our facility can adjust charges to enhance affordability based on the income levels of most patients requiring our help.
The second thing is setting anti-discriminatory policies. According to Rasanathan & Diaz (2016), one of the things hindering health equity is discrimination. As an addiction counsellor, some of the discriminations that I may encounter are racial discrimination and gender discrimination. Most societies negatively perceive females with drug addictions, thus making women with such issues reluctant to seek psychological care. Therefore, it is important to eliminate any form of discrimination among psychological healthcare providers to offer the right quality of care to all patients. Anti-discriminatory practices also advance health equity by ensuring that healthcare providers put aside stereotypes when providing care. For instance, the stereotype that all individuals with drug addiction are struggling financially needs to be eliminated to enable individuals from different economic backgrounds to access the psychological care required to deal with addiction. The policies need to be outlined in the healthcare facilities’ guidelines and procedures so that every healthcare provider adheres to them when offering care.
The third thing is offering telehealth services. Philip et al. (2022) argue that telehealth services increase access to healthcare by reducing discrimination because the healthcare provider provides care without face-to-face interactions with a patient. Therefore, telehealth services would advance health equity by eliminating discrimination and increasing patient-provider engagement. Telehealth services should be structured to sustain the engagement between a patient and counsellor without disclosing details such as ethnic background and income levels. However, gender information may be required to enable the counsellor to select the most appropriate strategy to offer counselling services. Patients can also set real-time visits based on their availability. Telehealth also advances health equity by guaranteeing healthcare access to patients in different regions. For instance, individuals in remote areas can use telehealth to interact with psychiatrists and attend counselling sessions.
The fourth thing is to offer training programs that increase employee cultural awareness. According to Baltes et al. (2015), cultural awareness includes understanding different cultural beliefs and values. This would be vital in advancing health equity by promoting respect for different cultures and embracing their beliefs and values while offering psychological care. The training programs can also advance healthcare equity by enlightening healthcare providers on important cultural values and beliefs that should be observed when interacting with patients. For instance, an addiction counsellor must understand a patient’s cultural beliefs that may be related to their substance use to select appropriate advice for the patient. Cultural awareness also enables a counsellor to determine the most suitable communication approach to use during the counselling sessions to improve healthcare outcomes.
References
Baltes, B., Hernandez, D., & Collins, C. (2015). Increasing cultural awareness through a cultural awareness program. Journal of Educational Research and Practice, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.5590/jerap.2015.05.1.01
Philip, A., Ford, M., & Goldberg, J. (2022). Getting beyond parity: Telehealth as a best practice in health equity. Telehealth and Medicine Today. https://doi.org/10.30953/tmt.v7.303
Rasanathan, K., & Diaz, T. (2016). Research on health equity in the SDG era: The urgent need for greater focus on implementation. International Journal for Equity in Health, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-016-0493-7
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Question 
In this unit, you have learned about the importance of advancing health equity in the workplace, and industry best practices for doing so. For example, the American Heart Association suggests that employers follow several guiding principles. One such principle is, “Adopt policies, practices and programs that address the historical legacies of structural inequities and how current systems, practices and norms may perpetuate inequity. Explore and acknowledge the organization’s role in these histories and systems”.
Advancing Health Equity
Let us take this time to demonstrate what you’ve learned. For this assignment, you will write a 2-3 page paper on 4-5 things they could do to advance health equity in your current job or a desired future role.