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  1. Helping Max

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    Salford Children and Young People

    What was the person’s situation before working with Advocacy Focus? 

    Max is a 19 year old male who is a care leaver, living out of area. Max has additional needs and struggles to retain information. He has been homeless and needed an advocate for support around housing and his rights as a care leaver.

    What did the Independent Advocate do to help the person?

    The advocate built a trusting relationship with Max enabling him to share his past experiences and what he finds hard. He recognised that he was unable to retain information and keep up with the decisions that had been made for him. The advocate with permission spoke to professionals involved and asked if all their updates could be shared vie email in one chain, so that Max could follow and review at any time.

    When Max became homeless the advocate ensured that the relevant professionals were informed, and Max felt safe and secure until a place was found for him. The advocate ensured information was passed correctly between Max and his social worker. Max was told that he could have a free gym pass, but because he was living outside of Salford, the Council were reluctant to give it to him. After a few telephone conversations Max has now got a free gym pass for local gyms.

    What was the outcome?

    Max understands and can see all information in relation to his life. He is gaining confidence when speaking to professionals and has attended some organisations on his own. He now attends the gym for free, which benefits his mental wellbeing. The case is still ongoing, with Max still waiting for a permanent place to live. The advocate will continue to work with Max until he decides he no longer needs an advocate.

    Why was advocacy support so effective?

    Without an advocate Max would not know some of his care leavers rights. Information would not have been shared in a way that he understood, therefore, Max would still feel that he had not been listened to. Max knows that he is being supported by a trusted person. The relationship between Max and his social worker has improved as he feels that actions have been taken for things he has waited for.

    *Names have been changed to protect the identity of the people we support

  2. Pendle Hill conquered in aid of mental health and well-being

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    Why you ask, would we brave bumping into any remaining witches, so close to Halloween?

    Well… we conquered the 360m ascent to help us reflect on the daily up-hill mountain that our services users often face and to raise money for us to extend our advocacy services to vulnerable individuals in the local community.

    So, after a quick morning cup of coffee and with our friends from BNI Diamond Chapter, Preston, a team of 25 set off from the carpark in high spirits.

    The going was fairly easy (at first) and we stopped to admire the view at Lower Ogden Reservoir.

    At the impressive dam wall, we headed up the right hand side on a rough path to reach the Upper Ogden Reservoir.  We followed this higher path through the valley and even crossed over the Boar Clough stream!

    Following the marker stones for the route of the Pendle Way, after crossing the stream we turned right and ascended steeply north on the rough path up the shoulder of Boar Clough.

    After a quick pit stop, our thoughts tuned to our ultimate end goal, ‘the summit of Pendle Hill’ known as Beacon End or Big End. We continued on (through the mud!) and reached the summit where we found an OS trig point pillar sat on an impressive circular stone cairn.

    We were at a height of 557m above sea level and took in the spectacular view where apparently on clear day you can see the Peak District, Yorkshire Dales, Morecambe Bay, the Forest of Bowland and of course the sprawling Lancashire mill towns.

    After congratulating ourselves on our achievement of reaching the top, we then realised that we were only in fact halfway!  It was time for our rocky descent and headed for the picturesque village of Barley which was a great place to finish the walk.

    Overall a brilliant experience and every one of us experienced highs and lows and then ultimately a great sense of achievement.

    We thank everyone for their sponsorship.  See you there next year???

  3. Demonstrating our support for Dementia Awareness Week

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    Dementia is set to be the 21st century’s biggest killer. But awareness and understanding remains low and many families are facing it alone.

    To play our part the awareness week, we thought we would share how we help people living with dementia through our highly skilled advocacy service.

    At Advocacy Focus, we have a vast experience of helping to give support and understanding and practical support to those living with dementia, and their families. We have 12 trained dementia friends and are in the process of training up a further 6 team members.

    Dementia is set to be the 21st century’s biggest killer. But awareness and understanding remains low and many families are facing it alone.

    To play our part the awareness week, we thought we would share how we help people living with dementia through our highly skilled advocacy service.

    At Advocacy Focus, we have a vast experience of helping to give support and understanding and practical support to those living with dementia, and their families. We have 12 trained dementia friends and are in the process of training up a further 6 team members.

    How Advocacy helped Leonard*

    Our Independent Advocate Becci recently acted as a Paid Relevant Persons Representative (RPR) for an individual who was living in a care home with no friends or family.

    Unfortunately, the Leonard was unhappy with being in the care home and would often pack his belongings and sit by the front door for long periods. 

    Becci visited him every month and, as a result of working with the client over a period of time and building up a relationship, it was discovered that the client was not happy in the care home due to not being able to go out, and there being a lot of noise coming from the resident in the room next to him, meaning he could not sleep. 

    Taking the time to listen to Leonard’s concerns meant that we could then help to address the specific concerns.

    As is our duty as the person’s representative, we take our role very seriously and we worked closely with the care home staff and the person’s Legal Power of Attorney and as a result, he has been able to visit shops in the local area, garden centres, go for walks along the lake and go to the pub. 

    We also raised Leonard’s concerns around the noise at night to staff in the care home and he was offered an alternative room in a quieter area of the home which he accepted. 

    Leonard is now very happy in the care home, is able to maintain access to the local community, and feels his new room is “top notch”. This is just one example of how we can help people, even those living with dementia to have a better quality of life and achieve the things that matter to them.

    To find out about how Advocacy can help you or someone you know, phone 0300 323 0965 or email admin@advocacyfocus.org.uk

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