BA in Psychology from SUNY at Buffalo; MSW from University at CT; MA in Health Advocacy, SLC. Currently, Coordinator of Pathways to Care at WJCS providing specialized care to families and individuals who are facing serious, chronic debilitating and life threatening illness. Focus is on psychosocial supports. Created access for end of life care and support to developmentally disabled adults living in group homes at WJCS, as well as training for their professional caregivers. Member of the WELC, Cancer Coalition of Westchester, Access to Healthcare Committee of Westchester and The Collaborative for Palliative Care of Westchester. Previous faculty assignment at Fordham University Graduate School of Social Services.
Previous Courses
MA Health Advocacy
Models of Advocacy: Theory and Practice I
Graduate Seminar—Fall
This course explores the multiple roles that health advocates assume as they create productive change on behalf of patients/consumers, families, and communities. Advocacy is practiced by improving the way health care is delivered within existing systems, by restructuring or reinventing areas of the health-care system, and by eliminating barriers to health caused by environmental destruction, poverty, and illiteracy. Throughout the year, students will be exposed to leaders who practice in diverse arenas within this interdisciplinary field, including clinical settings, community-based organizations, advocacy organizations, the media, interest groups, governmental organizations, and policy settings. They will learn to analyze organizations and communities in order to understand hierarchies and decision-making within them, and to be exposed to frameworks for conceptualizing and promoting the right to health. The course will also explore strategies to give health advocates and consumers more power in making decisions, defining issues, designing programs, and developing policies. The experiences of individuals and communities, as well as how systems respond to those experiences, will remain a central focus as students explore concepts, models, and practices of health advocacy.
Faculty
- Vicki Breitbart
- Heidi Weiss