ADVOCACY FOR ALL ANNUAL REPORT 2022.
4 Introduction 6 Message from our CEO 8 Thanking John Watts 10 Message from our Chair of Trustees Brian James 12 Our work in numbers 100 members Contents Key Word List CEO: The boss/leader of AfA Chair of Trustees: Chairperson for the board of trustees They give advice and support to AfA.
14 NHS Complaints 16 RPR and IMCA Advocacy 18 Care Act advocacy 20 Self-Advocacy 22 South East Autism Support Key Word List: RPR advocacy: for people who cannot speak for themselves. IMCA advocacy: supporting people who can’t make or understand decisions. Contents
Contents
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Key Word List
CEO: The boss/leader of AfA
Chair of Trustees: Chairperson for the board of trustees
They give advice and support to AfA.
Young Peoples’ and Childrens’ advocacy
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Our partners and funders
“I feel this service is fantastic. The advocates help so many young people as they give the young person a voice, which is very important.”
Bromley All Stars Keep fit
YouTube video
Ensure Conference, Antwerp, Belgium
LD members’ socials
Introduction 4
Key Word List Statutory advocacy: where local boroughs have to provide certain advocacy services as a legal right.
Starting in 1997, Advocacy for All (AfA) is a people-focused charity with a long history and excellent track record of providing high-quality statutory & non-statutory one to one and self-advocacy in various South-east & South London boroughs and in Kent. Advocacy empowers vulnerable people, including those with Learning Disabilities (LD) and also Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) to have bigger voices & better lives.
Introduction 5
Key Word List
Inclusive: including everyone.
Empowering: the process of becoming stronger and more confident, with more control of their lives and rights
AfA support many people who do not have a voice. The clients we work with are often isolated, are unable to access services, social and employment opportunities, suffer from poor mental & physical health & can experience abuse in a variety of ways. This is a human rights issue, and our service is person centred, empowering and professional, providing quality services that are inclusive. We are passionate about enabling our clients to speak up.
Message from our CEO, Jon.
The staff and volunteers have worked really hard to support a lot of people with their problems and to help them speak up and have a say about their lives.
We have done really well on the contracts we have, working with a lot of people and providing a really good service. We have done really well in winning contracts for advocacy as well as exciting projects for groups in Kent and the Health Ambassadors project.
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Message from our CEO, Jon.
We spent time planning new work and looking for more money to help us provide new projects to help people. As well as looking forward to new opportunities. We celebrated our 25th birthday and were really proud of the work we have done.
Jon Wheeler
To have a look at our 25th celebrations photos, please click on the link below:
https://www.advocacyforall.org.uk/about-us/25th-birthday/
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Thanking John Watts
John Watts has decided to stand down from being our chair of trustees. He has been on the board since 2015.
John first started at AfA as a volunteer, and then was an advocate for us before working with our board. From everyone at Advocacy For All, John...thank you.
The trustees are the people who share responsibility for a charity and how it is run. They work together for the good of AfA.
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Thanking John Watts
They make sure that no-one is breaking the law by being a trustee and that are all doing what is best for the charity.
“Over the years I have seen how AfA has grown as the need for Advocacy becomes greater than ever in society,. What has been encouraging has been the high standard and excellent work of our very committed and dedicated staff.
We see this in all the areas AfA has worked. Our clients remain at the heart of everything AfA does and we never forget that Advocacy walks alongside them in their journey of life.” John Watts.
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Message from our Chair of Trustee
The role of advocacy and supporting people to have a voice and choices, has never been so important. The Covid-19 pandemic and current cost of living crisis has put huge pressures on individuals, families and services.
The risk is that people are expected to settle for what is offered, but advocacy has the duty to give people information, give people a voice, and share our clients’ aspirations for a high quality service.
Key Word List
Aspirations: Something that you want to achieve or have for yourself
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Message from our Chair of Trustee 11
Please click on the picture of Brian with his son Jonathan to play a video message for our 25th Birthday. Bigger Voices, Better Lives.
In November I got to meet the AfA staff face to face for the first time since Covid-19. Myself and the trustees are very aware of the hard work they do, and how they help people to develop their skills, independence and opportunity to live active lives in their own communities.
Brian James.
←Please click on the box to watch Brian and his son Jonathan talk at AfA’s 25th birthday celebrations.
Our work in numbers
January to December 2022
2,555 written reports
3,729 phone calls
Key Word List
Best Interest meeting: is where different professionals meet to discuss a patient’s treatment and care
4,146 total clients
23,923 emails
16 different languages/ communication styles
43 different local councils/ authorities
96 Best Interest meetings
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884 case reviews
January to December 2022 13 Key Word List case reviews: where different professionals meet to discuss how to improve services and better protect young people 2035 zoom meetings 1885 text messages 111 court documents 4053 service users 194 social media posts 13 YouTube films
Our work in numbers
NHS Complaints
Advocacy for All provides advocacy for NHS complaints for people living in Bexley, Bromley, Croydon and Sutton.
We support people to make a complaint about services provided by the NHS.
Our aims are to ensure that you get the best possible outcome to your complaint and that complaints are used positively to improve NHS services for the whole community.
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15 NHS Complaints 2689 emails sent/ read 324 cases 5 different spoken languages 42 case/ medical issues 278 self referrals 158 selfadvocates 558 client phone calls
IMCA and RPR advocacy 16
Key Word List
DoLS: Stands for Deprivation of Liberty
Safeguards
RPR: Relevant Person’s Representative. The relevant person is someone who can live in different settings (like a care home, nursing home, supported living), and they have care or treatment that stops them from being able to come and go as they please (known as Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards or DoLS).
The relevant person may lack the capacity to agree with a DoLS and so the Relevant Person’s Representative advocates for them.
17 IMCA and RPR advocacy Independent Mental Capacity Advocates (IMCA) help people who lack capacity about their medical treatment or where they live. They may have no family or friends that it would be appropriate to consult with about those decisions. Key Word List IMCA: Independent Mental Capacity Advocate Lack capacity: This means that they are unable to make a decision at the time. 527 IMCA cases 1126 RPR cases 88 RPR case reviews 136 IMCA reports 11 different languages/ communication styles 248 IMCA Client meetings 38 Local Authorities
18 Care Act advocacy
Raising a safeguarding: alerting a professional (like a doctor or social worker) that you are not safe and it is an emergency
Care Act Advocacy is about giving the person as much control as possible over their life. It helps the person understand information, say what they want and what they need.
There are 2 conditions for this service:
1) the person has difficulty in being fully involved with their assessment, care and support planning/review or raising a safeguarding alert
Key Word List
19 Care Act advocacy
2) there is no one appropriate and available to support and represent their wishes.
Please click on ← square to play case study.
Word List
Key
to
511 cases 19 local authorities/ boroughs 1525 phone calls 3810 emails 489 conference calls
Appropriate: The appropriate person will usually be someone who knows the person well and are in the best position
represent and support them.
20 Self-advocacy
Self-advocacy is the ability to speak up for yourself. It’s the ability to identify your needs, communicate them clearly, and help others understand how they can support you. There are many issues that our members talk about. Mental health, benefits, relationships, education, training, work, digital poverty and most recently the cost of living.
Advocacy for All run LD speak up groups in the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon and Sutton. We run social events and host ‘Stay Up Late’ events.
21 Self-advocacy
As well as the different speaking up groups, we also have special interest groups, including a Lads group, Ladies group, Creative Voices Together (←picture), LD Easy Read team, The A Team (safeguarding training) and LD/ASC Media team.
4485 hours spent with members 2038 group meetings 134 self referrals 990 text messages 228 phone calls 291 members 2141 Zoom meetings 1264 emails
22 South East Autism Support
South East Autism Support
All Together Autistic: if you have a diagnosis of high functioning autism or Asperger’s syndrome, are over 18 and live in Kent, we support people to gain confidence, meet others, join in social events and hold peer support groups across the whole of Kent.
We provide monthly peer support groups, regular, supported social events and days out across Kent,including art workshops, walks, meeting up for meals, and visiting attractions.
Key Word List High functioning: refer to autistic people who read, write, speak, and manage life skills without much assistance.
139 service users
837 zoom meetings
129 text messages
23 South East Autism Support
The Ensure Project: enables safe and effective Peer Support buddying for autistic adults living in Kent. We offer training and supervision for those with lived experience who wish to become trained Peer Supporters.
Once trained, we match Peer Supporters with Mentees who have similar interests for up to 12 weeks of Peer Buddying.
Key Word List: Intervention: this is an action that aims to solve a problem. For example it can be advice or support.
20 peer supporters trained
13 interventions
4 training rounds
24 South East Autism Support
Touch Base Project: A project for people who have a diagnosis of (or are awaiting evaluation for, Autism or Asperger’s and who are experiencing significant mental health difficulties. We operate in Kent and Medway.
Our team of professional staff, peer supporters, and volunteers aim to provide a detailed, individual, and specific mental health service, which is built around you and your needs.
↑ Please click on square above to play case study.
178 service users
89 group meetings
1,239 self referrals
25 Young Peoples’ and Childrens’ advocacy
Our 1-1 project is for young people aged 10 - 18, who have LD, autism and ADHD, with social and emotional mental health difficulties and live in Bromley or Bexley.
“Helped me be confident in talking about my problems more, helped me become more confident in myself.”
Key Word List
ADHD: A condition known as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
Social And Emotional Mental health difficulties: where young people have difficulties dealing with their emotions and behaviour
“Knowing that what I say will get heard by other people I want it to... is good!”
“Helps to get my thoughts out...”
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Young Peoples’ and Childrens’ advocacy
Our advocates talk with you about:
o what is important to you
o help you find and access opportunities
o help you know your rights
o help you find info you can understand and
o make informed choices about education, training and housing
←Please click on the square to play our Speak Up Speak Out YouTube video
Key Word List
Making Informed Choices: Choices can only be made if you have information. If you know the options, the risks and what can possibly happen, then you can make the choice that is right for you.
Our funders and partners 27
Produced by Isaac Ngugi for Advocacy for All (AfA) Easy Read design and consultation by AfA’s LD Easy Read Team Multimedia (videos, photos and audio) produced by AfA’s LD/ASC Media Team Advocacy For All, Head Office, The Civic Centre, St Mary’s Road, Swanley, Kent BR8 7BU TL: 0345 310 1812 E: info@advocacyforall.org.uk @biggervoice @bigger.voice1 @advocacyforall YouTube @biggervoices AfA Social Media Channels Soundcloud channel Spotify channel
