A Patron’s Visit: Witnessing the Impact of Advocacy Focus
A message from our patron, Jake Mills. One of the highlights of my visit was spending a day at the...
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If you are 18 or over and live in Burnley, Pendle, Rossendale, Hyndburn or the Ribble Valley, you can get practical face to face support from our Community Focus team and volunteers. We can help you to lead the life you want to live.
Come and see us at:
16c Hargreaves Street, Burnley, BB11 1DZ.
We’re here to help at the times below:
Monday, Tuesday & Thursday
10.00am – 2.00pm
Our team has provided independent statutory advocacy, largely for people in crisis or with big decisions to make, since 1998. One thing we do know, is that people are the experts in their own lives. They know exactly what they would like to happen, when it comes to making decisions about how they want or choose to live. Sometimes, people just don’t have the confidence, skills or understanding to know what their rights are, or what decisions they are able to make in their own best interests, or even who can help. Which is why people have often had their power taken from them, or had things done too them, rather than with them.
We believe that advocacy should be available to all who need it, when they need and how they need it. That everyone should be helped to become their own best advocate. Self-advocacy is our starting point at Advocacy Focus and at the heart of all we do. We believe that prevention and early access to information can give people the right tools and support to speak up and act for themselves, or the people they care for. So that’s where our new preventative service, Community Focus, comes in. Several steps before statutory advocacy and when things have reached crisis point.
To make this happen, our team have been working hard behind the scenes to raise funds to further develop our community based work. Which will go some way to give people all the tools and confidence they need to get the best possible outcome when it comes to any decisions they have to make about their lives. We have enough funding for adults over the age of 18 that live in Accrington, Burnley, Pendle and the Ribble Valley, but we hope to raise more funds to extend this service to the whole of Lancashire.
What is exciting is that we will be able to help with much more than health and social care. Community Focus will have its own dedicated team of community advocates, who will provide telephone or face to face support for:
The team will work hard to prevent, reduce or delay professionals or services getting involved and help people stay independent and in control of their own lives. Put simply the Community Focus Team will help people to live the lives they want to live.
Interested in being a Community Focus Volunteer? Check out the role here.
