Advocacy Help
Advocates aim to help you achieve an outcome which will have a positive effect on your wellbeing.
Advocacy simply means supporting people to speak up for themselves when there is something they want to say. Advocacy is a way of making sure a person's voice is heard when issues affect their lives.
Advocates are skilled staff and volunteers trained to assist with everyday issues. They will not tell you what to do.
You may need advocacy because you feel:
- No one is listening to you
- You've got important decisions to make
- You can't get the help you need
- You don't agree with decisions that are being made about you
An advocate can help you by:
- Helping you choose a way forward
- Finding out information and who to contact
- Telling you about your right
- Making sure your rights are being respected
- Helping you to access health and social care services
- Going to meetings and appointments with you
- Helping you to write letters and fill in forms
- Challenging decisions that you do not agree with
- Helping you make a complaint
We are happy to take referrals from other organisations or people can contact us directly. All clients have an initial meeting (currently over the phone) but usually face to face with our Lead Advocate. They chat through and agree with the client what help or support is needed, undertake a risk assessment and a questionnaire about how the client feels. They then match the client with a volunteer with experience of the issue. The volunteer works with the client for as long as is required. Our service is client led, free and confidential.
The Veterans Foundation has very kindly supported our bid to fund advocacy support to Veterans. The need for advocacy support was one of the main issues raised in the Armed Forces Covenant Survey undertaken last year. We are really pleased to have this opportunity to offer our free advocacy service to Veterans over the age of 50 who live in York area. Advocacy is about getting your voice heard, saying what you want say to those you want to say it to.
OCAY DOES NOT PROVIDE LEGAL ADVICE
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Independent Advocacy Perth and Kinross have produced this video as a wonderful demonstration of how advocacy can work over a wide range of issues and settings.
OCAY Policies and procedures are available on request.
FEEL AN ADVOCATE COULD HELP YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW?