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Lay health advocate skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read
Quoted experts
Julie Williams Merten PhD, MCHES,
Jessica Clontz
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical lay health advocate skills. We ranked the top skills for lay health advocates based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 16.6% of lay health advocate resumes contained patients as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a lay health advocate needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 lay health advocate skills for your resume and career

1. Patients

Here's how lay health advocates use patients:
  • Provided advocacy and direct support to acute adult and adolescent patients requiring medical and behavioral health treatment in the emergency room.
  • Handled suicide prevention and self-harm patients, medical conditions involving bipolar disorders, psychotic disorders and schizophrenia.

2. Social Work

Here's how lay health advocates use social work:
  • Provided social work consultation to long term care facilities, rehabilitation centers, psychiatric hospitals and facilities for the developmentally disabled.
  • Participated in conferences throughout the state, consistently working to develop more effective therapeutic practices and patient/social worker interactions.

3. Substance Abuse

Here's how lay health advocates use substance abuse:
  • Provide community referrals to inpatient and outpatient alcohol and substance abuse treatment centers.
  • Provided professional counseling referrals for member undergoing substance abuse and mental health issues.

4. Home Health

Here's how lay health advocates use home health:
  • Located home health aides, nursing homes, adult day care centers and rehabilitation services.
  • HOME HEALTH NURSE Patient assessment after discharge home; including wound assessment and treatment, medication education, and ADL assessments.

5. Behavioral Health

Here's how lay health advocates use behavioral health:
  • Coordinate care between medical and behavioral health providers.
  • Procured credible information on behavioral health and lifestyle.

6. Patient Care

Patient care entails the diagnosis, recovery, and control of sickness as well as the maintenance of physical and emotional well-being through the use of healthcare providers' services. Patient care is described as services provided to patients by health practitioners or non-professionals under guidance.

Here's how lay health advocates use patient care:
  • Provide quality patient care for hospital, acute-care, rehabilitation, and nursing-home settings.
  • Reported on patient progress and participated in weekly Patient Care Committee meetings.

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7. Social Services

Here's how lay health advocates use social services:
  • Provided social services to underprivileged families in a quest to improve their health situations.
  • Provided public health and social services to individuals living with chronic diseases and homelessness.

8. Health Insurance

Here's how lay health advocates use health insurance:
  • Assist newly Medicare Eligible recipient to enroll and assist Medicare Eligible recipient to change health insurance plans.
  • Lead case management for clients with unpaid medical bills, in need of health insurance and/or Medicaid.

9. Health Education

Health education refers to education concerning healthcare.

Here's how lay health advocates use health education:
  • Organized health education efforts and educated students on health subjects through interactive workshops.
  • Proposed health educational programs, created awareness tables and documented relevant findings.

10. HIPAA

Here's how lay health advocates use hipaa:
  • Maintained all test subject results and consent forms are fully confidential in lieu of federal HIPAA regulation(s.)
  • Attend additional training monthly regarding infection/disease control, HIPAA procedures, and vulnerable adult issues.

11. Public Health

Here's how lay health advocates use public health:
  • Keep appropriate program records, such as proof of income, as defined by the Division of Public Health
  • Provided lectures and discussions for students on the global public health impact of water.

12. Community Outreach

Here's how lay health advocates use community outreach:
  • Provide intensive community outreach to individuals discharged from mental institution with the focus being reintegration with medication assistance and therapy.
  • Schedule medical appointments, Community Outreach

13. CPR

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR is a medical procedure that involves chest compression to help a patient breathe. This artificial ventilation helps in keeping the brain function in place and regulates blood throughout the body. CPR is a lifesaving procedure that is used in emergencies.

Here's how lay health advocates use cpr:
  • School Year Trained and certified in CPR and first aid, attended a two hour weekly class on medical topics.
  • Core Qualifications Microsoft word Excel Power Point CPR certified HIV certified Group Therapy Treatment Planning Documentation

14. Community Resources

Community resources are a set of resources that are used in the day to day life of people which improves their lifestyle in some way. People, sites or houses, and population assistance can come under the services offered by community resources.

Here's how lay health advocates use community resources:
  • Provided clients with community resources based on their needs and goals as identified in their individualized treatment plans.
  • Utilized campus and community resources to help provide assistance to students with particular needs.

15. Mental Illness

Here's how lay health advocates use mental illness:
  • Identify screen, and assess persons with mental illness and facilitate continuity of care while being held in jail.
  • Establish vocational or career goals and plans and recognize target symptoms of mental illness that may interfere with work.
top-skills

What skills help Lay Health Advocates find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on lay health advocate resumes?

Julie Williams Merten PhD, MCHESJulie Williams Merten PhD, MCHES LinkedIn profile

Associate Professor of Public Health Program Director, Interdisciplinary Health Studies Community Engagement Coordinator, University of North Florida

As with everything, it is all in the eye of the beholder. However, most astute hiring officials are keen to look for trends in the resume. For instance, they want to see that a person has been striving and accomplishing throughout their career; call it a pattern of ambition, if you will. For recent graduates, that can be tricky, but they can demonstrate ambition by showing their involvement in university leadership positions, philanthropic work, and experience via internships, field experiences, or paid employment. Many employers have shared that they can teach a new graduate the skill they will need for the job, but they can't teach work ethic, a good attitude, commitment to excellence, and the ability to get along with others.

For more seasoned public health professionals, employers are looking at the same patterns of success but also for the required experience, whether it be management experience or proficiency with certain programs or systems.

What soft skills should all lay health advocates possess?

Jessica Clontz

Assistant Teaching Professor, Human Development and Family Studies, Program Coordinator, HDFS, Pennsylvania State University

Although the pandemic has changed much of how the human services field functions, the most important skills remain the same: compassion, empathy, creativity, maintaining personal wellness, and holding space for others. With millions of people grieving sudden deaths of loved ones, professionals will need to be prepared to be a witness and hold space for that grief. To avoid compassion fatigue and burnout, it will be helpful for professionals (and employers!) to make personal wellbeing a priority and encourage a balance between work and other fulfilling endeavors.

What hard/technical skills are most important for lay health advocates?

Jessica Clontz

Assistant Teaching Professor, Human Development and Family Studies, Program Coordinator, HDFS, Pennsylvania State University

The pandemic forced us to redesign service delivery; therefore, professionals will need to demonstrate proficiency in tech skills such as setting up and hosting a teleconference, helping clients navigate online services, and leveraging social media for your agency. Although marketing on social media is not usually what professionals in the human services field expect to be doing, it is a necessary component among thriving organizations. Cultivating an engaging presence on social media and other platforms helps reach more people who may be in need of your services.

What lay health advocate skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Timothy Hanna Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Neumann University

Focusing on telehealth training could increase one's job options. Many workshops exist through various professional organizations tied to mental and spiritual health (ACA, APA, ACPE, SPT, PESI, etc.). If the student is interested in specialized certification (such as EMDR, DBT, etc.), they can also pursue those additional trainings during this time.

List of lay health advocate skills to add to your resume

Lay health advocate skills

The most important skills for a lay health advocate resume and required skills for a lay health advocate to have include:

  • Patients
  • Social Work
  • Substance Abuse
  • Home Health
  • Behavioral Health
  • Patient Care
  • Social Services
  • Health Insurance
  • Health Education
  • HIPAA
  • Public Health
  • Community Outreach
  • CPR
  • Community Resources
  • Mental Illness
  • Health Services
  • Mental Health Issues
  • Crisis Intervention
  • Health Promotion
  • Scheduling Appointments
  • Inbound Calls
  • Medical Care
  • Developmental Disabilities
  • Community Organizations
  • Motivational
  • Vital Signs
  • CMS
  • Medical Claims
  • Domestic Violence
  • Community Agencies
  • Sexual Assault
  • Clinical Data
  • Health Care System
  • Group Therapy
  • Outbound Calls
  • Billing Issues
  • Health Fairs
  • Blood Pressure
  • Educational Materials
  • Health Screenings
  • Hippa
  • Sexual Health
  • STI
  • PowerPoint
  • Community Treatment
  • Hiv Testing
  • Support Services
  • Insurance Carriers
  • Discharge Planning
  • Healthy Lifestyle

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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