Advocacy
Advocacy services in Staffordshire &
Stoke-on-Trent
Advocacy
About Advocacy
Advocacy is when one person helps another person to have their views, opinions and concerns heard by others.
Advocacy is for people who can find it difficult to get their opinions about themselves and their service listened to. This may be because they have not been listened to in the past or they do not feel confident to speak up and ask questions.
Advocacy supports people to think about options so that people can make their own choices about what they want.
Advocacy can make a difference to a person’s life by supporting the person to be involved in decisions about their life. Working with an advocate can also help the person to become more confident.
Advocacy can help other services to understand what people want and need.
Everyone has a right to be treated as an individual and valued for who they are and not what they need, what they have or which group they belong to. Because everyone should be able to influence their own lives, advocacy helps people to find information about options.
Everyone should be able to experience independence, so advocacy supports people to speak up about the way they live and what they want in the future.
We support people to make small and big decisions in their own lives and to speak to services who make those decisions because of a person’s health or disability.
Everyone should be treated with dignity and respect and have equal opportunities in life. Advocacy supports these rights for everyone.
Advocacy Roles
Understanding rights: Advocates help people to find out about their rights and how to stand up for their rights.
Exploring choices: Advocacy supports people to think about how different choices can affect them.
Advocacy tasks: Advocates support people to speak up in meetings, to write letters and to challenge decisions through complaints processes.
Not giving advice: Advocates keep their own views to themselves and do not give advice about what people should or shouldn’t do.
Not making decisions: Advocates do not make decisions, these are made by people we support or by people responsible for decisions by law.
Part of the professional’s role is to involve people in their care and support. In these situations, each person will have a view of what is best for the person they support. Independent advocates do not have a view about what is best, so we can truly support a person to speak for themselves.
Our advocacy services
Independent Visitors (IVs) are volunteers who offer confidential support to a young person, separate from social services. We carefully match each young person with the right volunteer based on shared interests.
Our children’s advocacy service is there to ensure looked after children and young people in Stoke-on-Trent are supported in advocating their wishes and feelings in decisions which affect them.
Care homes or hospitals must request a Deprivation of Liberty Safeguard (DoLS) if they may be depriving someone of liberty. The RPR service offers independent representation for those under DoLS.
BME Advocacy is available for anyone in Stoke-on-Trent, aged 18 years or over from a BME community with a disability and/or mental health need. Advocates will support people to articulate their concerns and navigate the NHS system.
The role of the Parental Advocate is to empower and support parents to fully engage in the Children’s Social Care statutory processes.
Living in Stoke-on-Trent or Staffordshire and need help with an NHS complaint? This free, confidential service assists in raising concerns and improving NHS services through explanations, apologies, or care improvements.
The Care Act 2014 mandates local authorities to offer independent advocacy for individuals struggling with care decisions, ensuring their involvement when no suitable support is available.
An IMHA supports people with issues relating to their mental health care and treatment. They also help people understand their rights under the Mental Health Act (MHA).
Asist provides IMCA services in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, supporting individuals without capacity who lack suitable family or friends to consult on best interest decisions.
