What Kind of Social Health Network Advocate Are You?
In this day and age, there are so many mediums available for advocacy. Exploring the best options for advocacy is a very personal process. The best kind of advocacy is the sustainable kind. As they say, slow and steady wins the race!
If you advocate in ways that interest you, you are more likely to love what you do
When you advocate in ways that are most accessible and friendly for yourself, it makes your health advocacy more sustainable! Of course, there are benefits to pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone every once in a while. But as Social Health Network advocates, we are already doing that everyday. It’s important for us to cater to our preferences for advocacy mediums. Doing so ensures that we are able to enjoy what we do and continue our advocacy journeys far into the future.
Are you an artistic health advocate?
Do you prefer advocating through art? Some examples of artistic mediums that can be used for advocacy include paintings, comics, graphic art, collage art, and much, much more. Being an artist and a health advocate is rewarding in so many ways. You are able to channel your emotions surrounding your condition and community into your art. You have flexibility with mediums. You can say so much with one picture, that may be more difficult to put into words. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words! And, speaking of words…
Are you a written-word health advocate?
Do you love using your words to spread information and depict your advocacy journey? Some examples of written-word mediums that can be used for health advocacy include articles, books, essays, and more. They say the best writers are great readers, so it may be beneficial as a written-word advocate to read other peoples’ words as much as you can!
Are you a social-media health advocate?
Do you love exploring the many different internet mediums available for advocacy? Some examples of social media networks that can be used for health advocacy include websites such as Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook, Youtube, and much more. As health advocates, we all utilize one or more of these mediums at some point in our advocacy journey. It comes with the job!
However, if you love exploring these mediums you can take it a step further and immerse yourself in learning the different ins-and-outs of creating different advocacy content for each. The immediate benefits of these mediums are clear. These websites are designed to allow millions of people to be exposed to tons of content on the daily, and still keep coming back for more. That means that your advocacy content is likely to be spread and seen by tons of different people from all kinds of backgrounds. Isn’t that what advocacy is all about?
Are you a spoken-word health advocate?
Would you rather directly speak your mind than write or create other forms of advocacy content? Then you might be a spoken-word health network advocate! Some mediums for spoken-word advocacy include participating in podcasts, seminars, conferences, interviews, and more. Storytelling is a great way to connect with others, and can be very powerful when it comes to advocacy.
Are you a multidisciplinary mixed-media health advocate?
Do you like mixing and matching all of the different mediums of advocacy mentioned above? Then you’re probably a multidisciplinary mixed-media health network advocate, like me! I prefer exploring all of the different ways that health advocacy is possible.
I’ve participated in podcasts about narcolepsy and written many articles. I am working on multiple books that depict my journey with narcolepsy (including a poetry book, a collection of essays, and a fictional novel). I paint my experiences with narcolepsy, I create TikTok videos about narcolepsy, and much more. For me, it’s important to keep my advocacy journey feeling fresh and exciting. I love spreading information about narcolepsy in as many ways as possible.
So, what kind of health advocate are you? Did I miss anything? Be sure to let me know in the comments below!
Join the conversation