Advocacy and the Opioid Epidemic: Positioning Providers to Influence Policy and Improve Public Health

In 2024, for the first time in more than a decade, the year-over-year rate of American opioid overdose deaths demonstrated a sustained downward trend. Years of public policy interventions that changed clinical practice, shaped population-level behaviors, and enacted measures to prevent overdoses finally prevailed. Advocacy from behavioral health professionals has been central to this milestone, which inspires a call to action for increased professional advocacy moving forward, yet research indicates that many practitioners do not feel empowered to engage in advocacy because they lack familiarity with the process. With limited training programs in advocacy, this article attempts to fill the gap, examining effective policy advocacy related to opioids and other substances, the role behavioral health professionals have played in successful policy changes, suggestions for integrating advocacy practice into clinical training programs, and guidelines for professionals to promote advocacy at local, regional, and national levels.