Masterclass on Conditional and Absolute discharge
On Tuesday 24th of May we were joined by a host of speakers from across the country to discuss conditional...
Read MoreOur website is currently under construction. If you can’t find anything and need immediate assistance, please call this number – 0300 3230965
We answer all of your burning questions about Advocacy. If there is something you are still confused about, be sure to contact us.
Advocacy is all about speaking up for people and communicating on their behalf when they need it most.
Advocacy is a way of ensuring that people who are perhaps struggling in society are able to:
Advocacy is a process of supporting and enabling people to:
To find out more about what advocacy is all about, click here.
There are many different types of independent advocacy support; we help with mental health, healthcare and social care advocacy.
Whilst we work across many types of advocacy, our main strands are:
These types of advocacy are known as Statutory Advocacy.
We are always extending our advocacy services, if you think you need an advocate, contact us now.
See more – Types of Advocacy.
An Advocate is someone who can help you to be heard when you feel lost in the system.
Advocates are independent of the NHS or Social Services and can help you to be heard if you have a health and social care issue. Your advocate is there to support you and be by your side.
Depending on the type of service required, an Advocate will help a person to understand and stand up for their rights in a health or social care setting. This could be by:
In some instances, you may be legally entitled to a professional advocate, such as an Independent Mental Health Advocate (IMHA) or an Independent Mental Capacity Advocate (IMCA) – this is called statutory advocacy.
Care Act Advocacy
Care Act advocacy is slightly different – not everyone is entitled to an Independent Advocate under the Care Act. Generally, two conditions must be met:
AND
Substantial Difficulty (only one need apply)
What kinds of issues might an Independent Advocate at Advocacy Focus be involved with?
Currently you can only self-refer for health and social care complaints and Independent Mental Health advocacy (IMHA). To self-refer for health and social care complaints, click here. To self-refer for IMHA, click here.
For all other types of advocacy you must be referred to us via your social worker or a health care professional.
Our offices in Accrington, Leyland, Fylde and Wyre and Lancaster give us good footing to cover all of Lancashire and even further afield. We have been providing high quality advocacy support in Lancashire for almost 20 years.
If you are a professional, you can also Spot Purchase from anywhere in the country, Spot Purchase Us by clicking here.
We have over 30 trained Independent Advocates covering all our services of advocacy, we also have aims to introduce more advocacy services in 2017/18 (including Children’s Advocacy and Veteran’s Advocacy) and recruit and train more Independent Advocates.
All of our Advocates are qualified to IAQ level 3 (Independent Advocacy Qualification), which is the only nationally recognised qualification that allow Advocates to externally validate their skills. Our Advocates also receive bespoke and specialist, in-house training as well as specialist training from various legal professionals. They are also required to complete regular self-study.
Our Independent Advocates are one of a kind; focussed on getting the right outcome for you.
We are one of the longest-running advocacy charities in Lancashire:
We also offer self-help packs to help you understand how to communicate your wishes and needs more effectively. Find out more about how to self-advocate here.
More importantly, donations help our service remain free.
Donating to Advocacy Focus has never been easier – you can donate quickly and easily online by clicking here. We are completely transparent about all the donations we receive.
If you wish to donate larger amounts, please get in touch with us on 0300 323 0965.
All donations – big or small – go a long way in helping us provide support to those people who need it most.
Your money goes towards the recruiting and training of our specialist Advocates, ensuring the smooth operation of our charity and the running of fundraising and awareness campaigns such as our Pop Up Advocacy events.
You can see exactly how much your donations help via the below:
To find out more about fundraising for us, click here.
Why not become a fundraising volunteer? You can help us plan events and help support other fundraisers!