The Alliance of Professional Health Advocates Blog

What Gator Head Windchimes Can Teach Us About a Healthy Advocacy Practice

5 minutes of reading / 3 Comments / By Trisha Torrey / July 24, 2017

My husband and I moved 14 months ago to Florida. Since then, each time I’ve been on the highway, I’ve seen billboards which have fascinated me. They advertise the Florida Citrus Centers which are roadside tourist stops where you can buy (yes, you guessed it) – oranges, grapefruit, limes and other fruit, plus other Florida-related souvenirs. But until last week, I had never stopped at one of the Citrus Centers, despite a 14 month curiosity… The curiosity is right there on that billboard photo above: Gator Head Wind Chimes. What on earth would an alligator head wind chime look like? […]

What Gator Head Windchimes Can Teach Us About a Healthy Advocacy Practice Continue Reading

You Can’t Do Life, or Business, Without Plan B

5 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment / By Trisha Torrey / July 17, 2017

You know Plan B. Plan B is your go-to option when what you thought would work, didn’t. It’s the answer to the question, “What will you do when life gets in the way?” I was reminded of Plan B last week when, after days of internet problems due to some new construction in the area, the internet was finally stable, and I had taken a very relieved deep breath and settled into a nice big project online…. …When BAM! Down went the internet again! Only this time the outage was caused by some workers next door digging up the edge

You Can’t Do Life, or Business, Without Plan B Continue Reading

A Rose by Any Other Name Might Ruin a Client Relationship

6 minutes of reading / 2 Comments / By Trisha Torrey / July 10, 2017

Words matter. Descriptions matter. Names matter. And we, as advocates, need to pay attention to words, descriptions, and names – and take steps to use them correctly, and as desired. The problem is – sometimes we don’t know when we’re violating that axiom. I was reminded of this a few times recently, not the least of which caused my husband some consternation. He and I have different last names. We were older when we married, and because I was already professionally known by my maiden name (Torrey), I didn’t want to change my name. Before we married, we discussed my

A Rose by Any Other Name Might Ruin a Client Relationship Continue Reading

An Anniversary, Meltdowns, Blessings, and Fuel for Advocates

6 minutes of reading / 2 Comments / By Trisha Torrey / June 26, 2017

Please indulge me today. I’m going to share a very personal experience I rarely think about anymore, in hopes it will propel some good advocacy. Sometimes months go by when I barely give it any thought. Other times, like lately, it seems like everywhere I turn, I just can’t escape it. So here you go:

An Anniversary, Meltdowns, Blessings, and Fuel for Advocates Continue Reading

Advocates Are Afraid to Do This – Until They Love to Do It

5 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment / By Trisha Torrey / June 20, 2017

Earlier this year we hosted one of our APHA Workshop weekends*, with about 30 individuals who are somewhere in the process of growing an advocacy practice. The APHA Workshops were originally designed to support the BUSINESS of advocacy only. The idea was that most advocates have abundant skills and abilities to advocate – they’ve advocated for themselves and loved ones, and sometimes non-family patients for years. What they didn’t know was how to successfully start and run a sustainable business / practice to allow them to do their advocacy work. For five years, we hosted those original workshops all over

Advocates Are Afraid to Do This – Until They Love to Do It Continue Reading

The Most Expensive Business to Start

7 minutes of reading / 1 Comment / By Trisha Torrey / June 12, 2017

It’s entirely possible to start a new business on a shoestring. We know this, because every publication worth the paper or website it’s published on tells us so: Forbes, USA Today, Entrepreneur, all of them. It requires time, grit, determination, attention to detail, great word-of-mouth – oh – and money! More about this in a minute. The truth is – the concept of starting a business on a shoestring depends on the size of your shoes and therefore, the length and strength of their laces. It certainly doesn’t hurt if they are made of solid-gold, and you can sell them

The Most Expensive Business to Start Continue Reading

Are You Too Old? Take this survey.

2 minutes of reading / 3 Comments / By Trisha Torrey / June 4, 2017

It happened again last week. A gentleman called me to discuss becoming an advocate. He has great experience and could be very helpful to patient-clients because he is (mostly) retired from a career in human resources where he assisted employees with their journeys through the healthcare system. He seems so very well prepared to jump in as an independent, professional, health advocate or care manager. Yet – he said he was still hesitating because (and it took me some time to pull this one out of him) – he thinks he may be too old. Too old? I asked him,

Are You Too Old? Take this survey. Continue Reading

Search APHA Blog