Self-help enables a victim to confirm her own capabilities, strengths, and power. Each decision she makes to help herself adds to her personal growth. Part of self-help is initiating change in the abusive relationship and achieving independence from the batterer. This can be facilitated through the sharing of common experiences with other battered women and through a support network. Advocacy is a means of providing practical and emotional support to battered women and is fundamental to the self-help process. There are five major areas of concern for advocates working with battered women: support, self-awareness education, information and instruction, accompaniment to services, and intervention. In addition to offering guidelines for the use of advocacy skills in women's shelters, this chapter outlines advocacy roles for hospital personnel and private physicians, mental health professionals, police officers and other criminal justice professionals, social workers, and educators. 19 references.