Advocacy

An advocate is someone who can both listen to you and speak for you in times of need. If you have a mental health problem then you may find it difficult for your opinions or ideas to be taken seriously, or you are not offered what you would like, or that you find it difficult in dealing with official organisations or companies.

Our advocates are independent. This means they will be acting entirely in your interests as expressed by you to them. Other sources of support can be useful, but they might not always be able to support you in something they disagree with, e.g. family or friends might have different ideas about what is good for you, and health and social services staff might not want to support you in something they feel is bad for you.

General advocacy

Advocacy for mental health service users often focuses on accessing, using, or complaining about mental health and community care services, e.g. Care Programme Approach reviews, Mental Health Act Tribunals, Hospital Managers Meetings, appointments with doctors etc. Other common areas are connected with benefits, bills, and housing, but there are many other ways in which our advocates can help.

Specialist family advocacy

Our advocates can also provide specialist advocacy for people with mental health problems who have children in the "cared for" system. They can provide help with dealing with social services, reviews, courts etc.

Specialist domestic violence/abuse advocacy

Along with our support group and counselling service, our advocates can provide help and support around abuse and domestic violence including dealing with housing, police, courts etc.