< Public Policy

ATRA in Action: Taking the Message Home in 2002 is Set for August

It is time once again for ATRA members to visit their Federal Legislators. The ATRA Board of Directors and the Public Policy team decided that ATRA should keep in touch with their Federal Legislators annually. ATRA is scheduled to got to the hill in 2003 for the mid-year conference but the public policy team wants to encourage everyone to see their legislators in their home district in the month of August. The legislators consider August their working month in their home district which means the majority of them are visiting their home offices.

There are some simple steps to take when setting up appointments, visiting legislators, and follow up after the appointment.

Ø Rally the troops! This needs to be a united effort. Call up fellow ATRA members in your district. This will ensure that you are not alone on your visit and it will also help reduce legislators getting multiple calls from ATRA members.

Ø Schedule the visit. This needs to be done by one person. Once you have the appointment scheduled, let the folks know about it that are going with you on the appointment. Don't know who your Senator or Congressman is? For a list of Senators in your state, go to www.senate.gov, for a list of House of Representatives, go to www.house.gov.

Ø Call the ATRA National office. Once you have your appointment, call the national office and they will provide you with a packet which will contain ATRA's position statements on issues that pertain to recreational therapy and the clients we serve. These are papers that you can hand directly to the representative that they can look over at their will. It will also contain a follow up form that you will fill out and send in after your visit.

Ø Fill out and turn in the follow up form.. This form enables the public policy team to track who has been visited, when, by whom, and what went on in the visit. This is a very important document for the public policy team and the team appreciates your efforts in filling it out and submitting it.

Ø Additional resources! ATRA can make available to you a training manual that outlines how to make appointments, how to communicate with legislators, how to dress, what not to say, etc. Recreation Therapists of Indiana, a chapter affiliate of ATRA, also has a video tape of a training session they did last year available. To get these items or to ask any questions, please send an email to dianebaumann@msn.com

GOOD LUCK ON YOUR VISITS!