Advocacy skills are clearly essential for survival, independence and on-going progress. It was through unwavering advocacy that mental health advocates were able to effect change from the bottom-up. “Nuts & Bolts of Advocacy” identifies the various types of advocacy and how they differ from one another. It is a highly inter-active training which covers the principles of advocacy, advocacy ethics, and tools and techniques essential to the advocacy process. It outlines the core skills necessary to be an effective advocate and concludes with an advocacy exercise. In this exercise participants are furnished with an information-gathering tool which will serve as a guideline to identifying some of the key information necessary for creating an advocacy plan.

Some of the topics covered in this training include:

• What is Advocacy
• Types of Advocacy
• Peer Advocacy Ethics
• Advocacy Principles
• Nuts & Bolts of Advocacy
• Advocacy Strategies
• Creating an Advocacy Plan