Self-Advocacy

You may need services and supports to reach your goals. This means you may be communicating with agencies and systems that offer services to people with disabilities. It can also mean attending meetings and advocating for yourself. Self-advocacy can begin at any age. 

This fact sheet includes tips to help you prepare for meetings, develop a service plan, and resolve conflicts that may arise in the process. 

This publication gives you tips to be your own advocate. The tips cover things like being prepared and asking questions. Keeping records and getting information in your language are important tips. Knowing your rights and getting help are other tips.

Client driven services are those a person with mental health disabilities decides are best for them. This pub tells you about client driven services. It also tells you about “recovery” and “peer support.” It tells you why client driven services are important.

This pub explains what stigma is. It tells you what discrimination means. The pub’s focus is on mental health. It tells you about different types of stigma. It tells you how discrimination happens.

This pub tells you about “peer support services.” Mental health peers give the services. They are people who have personal experience with a mental health disability. The pub tells you where to find the services. The pub tells you how effective the services are.

People first language means putting the person first before the disability label. This pub tells you about using people first language when talking about people with mental health disabilities. It tells you why some words are stigmatizing. It tells you words to avoid. It tells you words to use.

This pub tells you about the role of religion in mental health services. It tells you how it can help recovery. It gives advice about talking to people about their beliefs.

This pub talks about how mental health labels can be bad for people who suffer from mental health challenges. This pub shows the reader how mental health labels are not true.

Plain language (also known as plain English) is a writing style that creates an easy to understand document. This pub tells you about plain language. It gives tips and resources to write in plain language.