ADVOCACY

What is Advocacy?
Advocacy promotes equality, social justice and social inclusion. It can empower people to speak up for themselves. Advocacy can help people become more aware of their own rights, to exercise those rights and be involved in and influence decisions that are being made about their future. In some situations an advocate may need to represent another person’s interests. This is called non-instructed advocacy and is used when a person is unable to communicate their views.

An advocate is not a referee in a dispute or argument. An advocate does not take the control away from the person they are advocating for by persuading them into his/her way of thinking. An advocate does not take over the role of a Social Worker or a Nurse or a Care Worker either, or make up for gaps in services that should be provided. There is no right kind of advocacy and there are many different ways it can be offered.

Who needs Advocacy?
For most people, making their own decisions and choices, is a matter of some considerable importance. Being part of decision making processes is not only a route where self identity is expressed but it is also an important aspect of personal freedom. However, a number of barriers can prevent people from actively taking part in decisions which affect their lives and can affect an individual’s ability to speak up for themselves. People who may be isolated in their own home, care homes or hospitals; or lack confidence to speak up because they have been ignored or abused in the past; or lost faith in services; or are unaware that services and support exist.

Types of Advocacy
All advocacy types are of equal value. What advocacy is used, and when, should depend on what is best suited to the person who seeks it. A single person may ask for different types of advocacy support at different times in their life. The four most common forms of advocacy are self, peer, citizen and professional advocacy. Valuing People Now has simplified their definitions:

·          self-advocacy as ‘people coming together to speak up for themselves’

·          citizen advocacy as ‘volunteers developing long-term relationships with people and speaking up for them’

·          professional or representational advocacy as ‘people being paid to advocate with, and for, individuals on a short- or long-term basis’

·          peer advocacy as ‘people who have the same or similar experience of discrimination as the person they are acting as an advocate for’

A more exhaustive list would include case, short term, issue based or crisis advocacy, paid independent advocacy, bi-lingual advocacy, health advocacy, independent mental capacity and mental health advocacy, legal advocacy and even powers of attorney.

ELITE has a key role in helping people to understand options, including those opened up by personal budgets, and to make choices. Going forward, advocacy workers may focus increasingly on enabling people to be in control, rather than supporting people to argue their case. There is a clear role for advocacy workers in working alongside people to ensure that there is a genuine shift of control and decision-making, rather than falling back to traditional service-centred ways.

Personalisation for advocacy workers means:

·          Working alongside people who use services to ensure that there is a genuine shift of control and decision making in their favour, rather than falling back to traditional, service centred ways.

·          Increasing the scope of advocacy activity to ensure that advocacy is available to people who fund their own care, or fall below eligibility criteria for public funding.

·          Possible changes to the type of support that people ask their advocates for – there may be a greater need for support from advocates to enable people to consider how money is spent and support organized.

·          Enabling people to access support beyond that offered by conventional, more traditional services – this could mean supporting people to increase their contribution to and participation in community life; enriching both the life of the individual and the community.

·          Having a key frontline role in ensuring that personal choice and control is achieved.