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The Advocacy Training and Development Program provides training in Military Advocacy, for members of Ex-Service Organisations (ESO) which offer advocacy services to serving and ex-serving members of the armed forces and their dependants. The program is funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Veterans' Affairs.

The training program is a Competency Based Training (CBT) program and places a heavy reliance on experiences gained in a working environment. ATDP offers a single course in Veteran Advocacy. The course contains six elective Units of Competency; some units have pre-requisite Units of Competency. The units are nationally accredited. Completing one or more Units of Competency leads to a Statement of Attainment.

Trainees are to be selected by their ESO using the Guidelines for the Selection of Advocacy Trainees. Ideally new entrants will have been exposed to the role in the workplace prior to enrolment to ensure their ability and willingness to carry out the role. The ESO must then nominate the person using the online nomination form. Once that has been done, the nominee must then complete an online application form to finalise the enrolment.

Preference to training places is based on the best possible return to the ex-service community, so workload of an ESO, Veteran Centre or Community of Practise is taken into account.

Training is conducted primarily in the workplace and guided by a mentor appointed by the ESO. The workplace experiences are supplemented by formal training which included online study units and face-to-face consolidation training.

Pension and welfare officers trained under the TIP system will be able to undertake a process of Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) in order to transition to an ATDP qualification. This process initially takes former TIP practitioners to level 2 in their chosen stream. Level 3 and 4 compensation advocates must gain a level 2 qualification first, as this is a pre-requisite for 3. Level 3 is also a pre-requisite for level 4.