Do peer advocates need any special skills?

As a peer advocate, you will come to depend on certain skills. These include:

Organizational skills
As a peer advocate, you will need to develop skills that will enable you to manage numerous issues at once. For instance, as an advocate, you may be meeting with several women at once, and it will be your responsibility to offer your assistance to all of them while keeping their issues separate.

Communication skills
Interacting well with many different kinds of people is a skill you will need as a peer advocate. Therefore, it will be important for you to be able to express your thoughts clearly. Also, not all people communicate in the same way, and so it’s important for you be able to adjust your own style of communication to meet the needs of the women you wish to assist.

Active listening skills
Passive listening is simply being present while another person talks; the listener may not be engaged in what the speaker is saying. Active listening is the opposite; it requires the listener to focus on what the speaker is saying and to engage herself. You might, for example, repeat or paraphrase the information provided by the person you are listening to, in order to confirm that you clearly and accurately understood her meaning. Active listening skills are very important for a peer advocate. When someone you do not necessarily know very well has been brave enough to approach you for assistance with her problem, your full attention and energy will be required.