Learning the Language of Advocacy

Advocating for our personal needs is a matter of a delicate balance. Knowing our rights is not enough to achieve effective communication. It is of great importance to be familiar with the type of language to use – what we call - “Advocacy Language”.

There are various relevant elements that must be present in the way we express our needs if we are to successfully have them fulfilled. Some of these are, our tone of voice, our demeanor, ability to sustain eye contact, to include all the way to the actual words we select to use.

Understanding the advocacy language skills will play a huge role in strengthening our ability to help both ourselves and the peers we serve to self-support, as well as to enhance the quality of a life in wellness.

UNDERSTANDING the CONNECTION between ADVOCACY & KNOWING MY RIGHTS: Is knowing my rights just enough to ask for my needs to be fulfilled? Are other elements needed to be effective in our advocacy attempts?

WORDS DO MATTER: The how, when and the why - we select the words, we use to express our needs and ask for our rights to be validated, respected, and implemented. (Tone of voice, demeanor, clarity of the message, audience among other cues…)

LEARN the COMPONENTS FOR EFFECTIVE ADVOCACY: What are the 3 main components of advocacy. Ways to practice and facilitate learning of advocacy language skills in our role as peer supporters.

Among other practical strategies…

1) PLANNING

2) PURPOSE OF ADVOCATING

3) MAKING YOUR MESSAGE POWERFUL