Action Points – Practical Living Skills
- Practical living skills fall into three categories:
- Personal/self-care skills
- Community living skills
- Social living skills
The skills you will focus on as a peer support specialist will depend upon the setting in which you work and your client’s needs.
- Personal and self-care skills are the essential skills that support daily living such as hygiene, following medication regimens, sleep and nutrition. These are priority skills for clients to develop.
- Community living skills include those things that allow someone to function independently outside of a supported living or institutional setting. Examples are handling transportation, managing money, and employability skills.
- Social living skills are sometimes referred to as Emotional Intelligence.
- Four aspects of Emotional Intelligence are:
- Self-Awareness
- Self-Management
- Social Awareness
- Relationship Management
It is important to develop the self-skills in order to be able to have the “other-oriented skills.