Learn About Advocacy: What is Independent Patient Advocacy and Survivor Support?
Review Greater National Advocate (GNA)'s Introduction to Survivor Support , and be sure to watch the included survivor support video.
What Exactly is Independent Patient Advocacy? (Curious Minds Want to Know!) — from The Alliance of Professional Health Advocates (APHA)
Self-Assessment Quiz — by the Patient Advocate Certification Board Organization (PacB)
Review the “Ask an Advocate” recordings <coming soon!>
Attend one of the monthly “Introduction to Survivor Support” Zooms <Coming soon!>
(Find yourself wanting more detailed, spelled out information? Visit the longer blog post for a more detailed explanation and additional resources.)
Expand Your Knowledge: Learn from Fellow Advocates:
On Facebook, join The Independent Patient Advocate group run by GNA
Consider attending Healthcare Advocate Summit – “For Advocates, By Advocates” (in-person, annually)
Consider finding mentors such as through NAHAC's PeerLink
Join Monthly Community conversations by HealthAdvocateX
Explore Pulse's ACES: Advocates Collaborative Educational Series
Consider the People for Patient Safety (PPS) monthly webinars from Pulse CPSEA
Attend Pulse CPSEA's PACC: Patient Activation through Community Conversations monthly Zoom
Review the Guide For Understanding Pain and Healing from HealthAdvocateX (which includes many video links on various sub-topics about long term pain)
Learn About Your Condition — From the Experts:
Find the Nonprofit(s) for your condition (Every condition has a non-profit with patient-facing resources, many including more complex resources — for example EDS ECHO Educational Programs for the EDS & HSD Community, from The Ehlers Danlos Society)
Find educational programs for your condition (for example NAHAC's Navigating Life with Limb Loss: Education and Resources )
Join Facebook or other social media groups for your condition.
Speak with your own providers, and build a provider network that fellow patients with your condition can trust. This can be a REALLY critical resource that brings value to clients. It can also be a source of referrals for you!
Consider Certification: While not required, we strongly encourage you to consider certification with the Patient Advocate Certification Board (PACB)
Start Your Business (or Join One): GNA's blog How to Start and Grow a Lucrative Patient Advocacy Business From Scratch
APHA's How Patient Advocates Can Build a Thriving Practice: A Strategic Guide
APHA's Just What Does It Take to Be a Successful Patient Advocate?
PracticeUP!'s Online Course Client Acquisition: Converting Callers to Clients
HIPAA Myths for Advocates — Hint: “When you contract directly with patients (not hospitals or insurance companies), you’re not bound by HIPAA regulations. This doesn’t mean privacy doesn’t matter—it means you can create client-centered protection systems without unnecessary complexity.”
Need More Structured Help Building Your Business? Looking for more structured how-to Boot camps?
Learn at your own pace with APHA's Patient Advocacy Boot Camp
Or learn as part of more extensive virtual live cohorts with APHA's “100 Days To Launch Your Practice ”
Training programs specifically for clinicians transferring to advocacy:
APHA's Preceptorship Mentoring Program
NAHAC's Directory of Post Secondary Educational Resources
There are many additional private training resources. You can connect with and learn about many of them on the Facebook group, The Independent Patient Advocate.
Connect With Clients: Create Your Profile with Greater National Advocates’ free professional directory :
Create Your Profile
Choose Survivor Support as your primary category
If you are ready to not only help your peers with the basics described above as survivor support, but also confident attending appointments, helping make sense of medical journals, researching possible providers – then choose “Medical Guidance” as your second category.
Watch the provided videos; review other survivor supports’ profiles to help develop your own.
Once you submit your listing draft, a GNA team member will reach out to schedule a Zoom call. This is a required step prior to your listing going live with GNA.
Take advantage of the extensive resources the GNA team provides to newly listed advocates!