It can be extremely frustrating when you have lots to say but don’t know how to say, aren’t listened to or simply can’t communicate your needs in the best way.
For individuals with a mental health diagnosis, it can be especially difficult to deal with.
In this blog, we’ll discuss what advocacy is, what an advocate does, who can be an advocate and whether a person has a legal right to an advocate, along with some useful contacts.
People with mental health issues can sometimes struggle to have their wants and needs taken seriously by those around them. As you can imagine, this is extremely frustrating and difficult to deal with – especially when they have to communicate so often with healthcare professionals. Individuals may find that they aren’t always given the opportunity or choice to be involved in their own care.
This is when advocacy can provide the perfect solution. This is when they are given the help and support of a person to communicate their views and stand up for their rights. A person who does this is called an advocate.
The role of an advocate depends entirely on what they are needed to do – for example, the level of support needed.
An advocate has the power to listen to your views, support you in exploring your rights, give you the information needed to make your own choices, help you get in touch with relevant people or attend appointments/meetings with you.
An advocate won’t give you their personal opinion, make choices for you, solve your problems or make any judgment about you or your situation.
What your advocate does for you is entirely your choice, it’s also dependent on the type of advocacy you want to access.
The following are examples of what they can and will help you with, on your request:
Again, depending on your specific situation – there are several types of advocates you can get in touch with.
Professional advocacy can be accessed through organisations and charities, they are completely separate from the NHS and health and social care services. Your loved ones, friends and even carers can be your advocate.
There are special circumstances when a person may be entitled to a professional advocate:
This is referred to as statutory advocacy.
Every person’s situation is different and dependent on their circumstances, they may require different support.
Several organisations can help you find statutory and non-statutory advocacy services in your region:
As frustrating as it is, if you’re not entitled to a statutory advocate, you might find there aren’t many options for advocacy services in your area, you may even struggle to find one at all. This can be difficult, particularly if you feel you don’t have somebody around you who you can ask for support.
Please don’t panic though, there are still some options for you to try. Organisations such as Rethink Mental Illness and VoiceAbility can help you set up group advocacy in your area. Group advocacy can involve people with similar issues coming together to support each other to be listened to. You can also ask a loved one, friend or carer to act as an advocate for you.
We hope you found our article – we hope this article has helped you understand the role and importance of an advocate.
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Advocacy for mental health – Rethink Mental Illness
Image by Mufid Majnun on Unsplash.
