Looking After You While Supporting Others: Patient Advocacy & Peer Support (Part 1)
Introducing: Shona
You become an advocate because you care. Because you want to make things better for the next person. And you want them to feel supported and less alone.
How do you look after yourself when you’re the one others turn to for peer mentoring, community support, or patient advocacy?
In this episode, Luan speaks with Shona Edwards, Deputy Chair of Cancer Voices SA and a leader in disability and patient advocacy, about the emotional and energetic cost of showing up for others while still living with health challenges yourself.
This episode speaks to anyone who offers peer support or patient advocacy in a WhatsApp group, on Instagram, or through a formal advocacy or peer role. And if you work alongside lived experience advocates, it’s an important reminder of the respect and care they need too.
This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. In Part 2, we explore a concept from the disability space that might just help you rethink your relationship to time, energy and recovery.
Make sure you’re following or subscribed so you don’t miss it!
Advocacy through peer support, sharing your story online or policy work can quietly take more from you than you realise.
In this episode:
What peer mentoring, online community support and patient advocacy look like
How to recognise the roles you might already be playing
Why so many advocates feel called to support their community
The emotional labour that comes with being the “go-to” person
Practical ways to protect your energy, privacy and boundaries
Why self-care is a vital skill that helps make advocacy sustainable
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