Types of Advocacy
Types of Advocacy that we offer
This page details the different types of Advocacy we offer including Individual Advocacy, Self-Advocacy, Citizen Advocacy and Peer Support.
Individual Advocacy
There are two common forms of individual advocacy - informal and formal advocacy.
When people like parents, friends, family members or agencies speak out and advocate for vulnerable people; this is termed informal advocacy.
Formal advocacy more frequently involves organisations that pay and train their staff to advocate for someone or for a group of individuals.
Self-Advocacy
Self-advocacy is the ability to speak-up for yourself and the things that are important to you. Self-advocacy means you are able to ask for what you need and want and tell people about your thoughts and feelings.
Self-advocacy means you know your rights and responsibilities, you speak-up for your rights, and you are able to make choices and decisions that affect your life. The goal of self-advocacy is for YOU to decide what you want then develop and carry out a plan to help you get it. It means that you are responsible for the choices you make.
Citizen Advocacy
Citizen Advocacy involves Volunteers supporting people and speaking up for them. This is a partnership between two people. Often one is usually called the advocacy partner, and one the citizen advocate.
Peer Support
Peer Support occurs when people provide knowledge, experience, and emotional, social or practical help to each other. It involves trained supporters, and can take a number of forms such as peer mentoring & listening.
