Description
Who we are:
The Advocacy Project believes that when an individual has a voice, understands their rights and makes choices, real change can happen.
Advocacy helps by supporting marginalised people to speak up, understand their rights and make choices.
Everyone has the right to influence the decisions that affect their lives.
What we do:
The Advocacy Project offer advocacy and user involvement services to support people to stand up for their rights and have a say on the issues that matter to them.
User involvement enables people to actively improve the services they use and influence policy.
We support people to be involved in every aspect of their services, from individual care to planning, management and evaluation.
What is advocacy?
Definitions - Advocacy supports people to express their point of view and have it taken seriously.
Advocacy helps people speak up about things that are important to them. Sometimes people need support expressing what they want to say and having their point of view taken seriously.
An Advocate is there to be on someone’s side. They can help a person access information, explore options, and understand their rights – so they can make the decisions they want about their life.
Types of advocacy
We are experts in different forms of advocacy. We provide statutory and non-statutory advocacy.
Our advocates work under the:
Statutory advocacy - Statutory advocacy means a person is legally entitled to an advocate because of their circumstances. This might be because they’re being treated under the Mental Health Act or because they lack the mental capacity to make their own decisions. It also covers certain people who are in the care of the NHS or local authority, including prisoners.
Non-statutory advocacy - These services continue to play an important role, providing advocacy where vulnerable people fall outside of the eligibility criteria for statutory provision.
What do advocates do?
Advocates spend time getting to know a person so they can support the individual to put forward their views and preferences. They won’t give advice, or make decisions for someone.
They might support by:
- being there at meetings
- helping a person make contact with the right people
- speaking for them in situations where they don’t feel able to speak for themselves.
Notes
Record Last Updated on: 25/05/2018