Advocacy
is about ways of ensuring that an individual's
voice is heard or represented and their point
of view acknowledged.
Advocates can support service users or carers
to get their voice heard.
Key principles of advocacy include: independence,
respecting the individual and empowerment.
Our Advocacy Service currently has 4 different
services:
A complaints advocacy
service to help people who wish to make
complaints about The Community Care and Housing Department in the local
authority areas of Bath & North East Somerset,
Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.
A mental health advocacy
service for people with mental health
issues living in South Gloucestershire.
An independent mental capacity service for people in North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. This service needs a referral from a professional decision maker and not a service user or carer.
A drugs advocacy scheme supporting substance misusers in Bristol.
We offer a range of support and can research,
help clients write letters, attend meetings and
discuss options.
The service is open from 10.00am to 4.00pm from
Mondays to Thursdays.
Is
this an activity/service ONLY for people
with learning difficulties?
No
We only work with people who need our service
the most.
Does a person
need to have an assessment to take part
in this activity?
Complaints advocacy - clients must have
a complaint they want to bring against
one of the local authorities listed above.
Mental health advocacy - clients must
normally live in South Gloucestershire
and have mental health needs.
We use prioritisation criteria, which
means we only work with people who need
our service the most.
