When to Advocate

There are both personal reasons and environmental reasons for advocating for yourself. Below you can find a few categories mapped out for your review.

Personal reasons for advocating for yourself are when your needs aren’t being met, you feel unfulfilled, and you want more growth opportunities. Many of these examples may show up in the workplace and you need to advocate to a supervisor or a peer who you’re working closely with on a project.

Environmental reasons for advocating for yourself may be because you need something to change, when you realize you need stricter boundaries, or when you’re unhappy about a decision. Maybe you’re feeling stifled at work, you need support setting boundaries or need to express boundaries, or you want to speak up about a decision that was made.  

Quick Discussion Question:

In the comments below, please do one of the following:

• Add any other situations when you think it's important to advocate for yourself
• Share one of the personal or environmental categories that resonates with you.
• Share an example or story that explains how you've advocated in the past.

(In the next page, we'll dig further into what self-advocacy can look like!)