Independent Advocacy

Independent Advocacyis a way to help people have a stronger voice and to have as much control as possible over their own lives. Independent Advocacy is: Standing alongside people who are marginalised in our society. Speaking on behalf of people who are unable to do so for themselves.

Helping Llew:

Llew lives on his own, he has no close relatives to help. Llew had got himself into a bit of a pickle.  He was referred by CAB as they had become worried about him as he had become dishevelled and had lost weight.  He agreed for me to go and see him and I found that he had not been coping well – the house was unkempt, he was not eating properly, he had memory problems and he felt that his life was spiralling out of control.  He agreed for us to appoint a social worker and through working together Llew is now being helped to re-gain control of his life – he has sorted out his house, is eating healthily and is having all the assessments he needs.  He is likely to return home within the next two weeks with carers – just to keep an eye on him.

Helping Mary

Mary has early signs of dementia and has been for assessments at a local care home.  Her family are around but are finding it difficult to go through the vast amount of paperwork, assessments and procedures.  Mary’s son has received support and sorting the paperwork step by step with our Independent Advocate.  Now that he has the knowledge , he feels confident to attend the meetings on his own to support his mother.  It means that he understands the procedure and can speak on her behalf.  This is called self-advocacy.

Helping James:

James was discharged from hospital into a care home – but the care home was not suitable for his needs and he had not been allocated a social worker.  He was also self-funding which means he was paying for his own care needs. Our Independent Advocate made a complaint to the hospital and asked for a re-assessment.  She also asked for a financial assessment and a nursing assessment.  Following this, James now receives financial contributions from the NHS and from Social Services to contribute towards his care.

The main themes of advocacy are:

Safeguarding people who are vulnerable and discriminated against.

Empowering people who need a stronger voice by enabling them to express their own needs and make their own decisions.

Enabling people to gain access to information, explore and understand their options, and to make their views and wishes known.

Independent advocacy is structurally, financially and psychologically separate from service providers and other services.  Such independence helps to ensure that there is no conflict of interest arising in relation to any other services accessed by the individual or group.