How to “speak up” and advocate for yourself
If you are living with a health condition, this page provides tips and advice for on how to speak up for yourself to family members, friends, colleagues or medical professionals, and how to seek help and support.
One of FTWW’s main aims is to give women the confidence and skills to speak up for themselves at times when they need to talk about their health and healthcare needs.
FTWW is in the process of coproducing a Self-Advocacy Toolkit with our community, so please keep your eye on this section for updates on that! In the meantime, please find tips, advice and links to information and resources to help you advocate for yourself below.
Top tips from our community members
1. Remember, no-one knows your body as well as you, so be confident in your knowledge and expertise
2. Be kind to yourself – it’s all too easy to be self-critical in a way that we often wouldn’t be about someone else
3. Keep a journal – including when preparing for appointments and don’t be afraid to ask healthcare professionals to repeat things so you can make notes to revisit afterwards.
You can find tips on how to get the most out of your medical appointment here.
4. Have a look at NICE Guidance on Shared Decision-Making – these are recommendations which healthcare professionals are expected to follow when it comes to helping you make informed decisions about your care. They demonstrate that your voice and expertise is important and that your choices count! Reading and referring to these can help to build your self-confidence in clinical encounters
5. Tell yourself that your voice is important and that it needs to be heard. Try to join proactive support groups where people are going through similar experiences to you to help you feel less alone and more empowered
6. Try to keep yourself as healthy as possible, physically and mentally, regardless of the health conditions with which you’re living
7. Remind yourself that you have more value than how productive you are in modern capitalist society.
“I don’t like to admit I’m struggling. I don’t want to be the person that’s labelled as sick. Even though I know it’s not the case, I feel like I’ll be seen as weak, or as someone who’s just not strong enough to deal with things. So when I do finally admit that there’s a problem, I can end up quite emotional and close to tears which I feel doesn’t help with being taken seriously, particularly by health professionals who don’t know me.
Advocacy and Support - A report by FTWW
This report provides a detailed overview of the various challenges our community members have faced when seeking help and support and how they think these experiences could have been improved
Be part of our online community
We’ve built up a diverse and welcoming community of women, girls and those registered female at birth.
Our online community provides peer support and validation, but it’s also a space where we can share training and involvement opportunities for members to have their voices heard.
Useful resources for managing your wellbeing
We know from our members that living with chronic or recurrent, often non-visible, health conditions can cause people a lot of stress which, in turn, can make symptoms worse. We’ve collated some of the important resources for women and girls who are living with health issues below.
Endometriosis Cymru - stress and coping
Not just for endometriosis patients, this website includes a questionnaire which can help you understand your coping style and develop strategies to help you better manage the psychological impact of living with a long-term health condition.
‘Hapus’ website - Public Health Wales
Find tools and resources to improve your mental wellbeing and resilience
Understanding Disability
In Wales, it’s estimated that around 26% of the population is disabled, however many of those don’t realise that they can call themselves disabled.
We follow the Social Model of Disability, meaning that environmental, organisational, and attitudinal barriers dis-able people and prevent participation in society, not necessarily medical conditions or impairments.
English (UK) 
Cymraeg