FAIRWAY ADVOCACY

WELCOME PACK

ABOUT FAIRWAY ADVOCACY

Fairway advocacy is a registered charity founded in May 2013 to provide Independent Advocacy to those with neurological conditions. It has received funding that allows this service to be provided free of charge to those who need it.

Any person with a neurological disability who is having difficulties accessing services and entitlements from authoritative bodies of people such as social work, housing, Occupational Therapy, employers, educators, police, family etc can use Fairway Advocacy’s services to help resolve these difficulties and gain access to such services and entitlements, as well as ensure that they are treated as equals, thus being treated with the respect and dignity that those belonging to such authoritative bodies are obliged to treat them with.

There is very often a power imbalance that exists between the individual and the authoritative body which has decision making powers over a person’s life thus affecting the quality of that person’s life. This power imbalance can put the individual in a very vulnerable position where their voice is not heard, their wishes/beliefs/values are not taken into account and they can also be misinformed, thus denying the individual their entitlements as well as denying the individual their basic human rights. Fairway Advocacy’s ethos is to remove that power imbalance so that all decision making is fair and all relationships between the individual and the authoritative bodies are level playing fields.

WHAT IS INDEPENDENT ADVOCACY?

It’s about supporting and enabling people to:

  • Express their views, wishes and concerns
  • Access information and services
  • Defend and promote their rights and responsibilities
  • Explore choices and options
  • Have their voices heard when they feel unable to do so for themselves.
  • Express their own needs and make their own decisions
  • Empower those in need of advocacy to develop the skills and confidence to advocate for themselves when addressing future issues

It’s not about:

  • Providing general advice.
  • Making decisions for someone.
  • Helping to fill in forms.
  • Mediation.
  • Counselling.
  • Befriending.
  • Care and support work.
  • Consultation.
  • Telling or advising someone what you think they should do.
  • Solving all someone’s problems for them.
  • Speaking for people when they are able to do it for themselves.
  • Agreeing with everything a person says and doing anything a person asks you to do

Sometimes a person lacks capacity as a consequence of a medical condition such as late stage dementia. In this case the individual is incapable of expressing their wishes/desires to the advocate nor will they be capable of putting an agenda together with the advocate that works towards achieving these wishes/desires. In this case the advocate will have to do for their client what they believe their client would want them to do. This might involve gathering as much information about the client as they can, from people who know the client, and using this information to guide them towards putting together an agenda that works towards the achievement of goals that a client’s past history would suggest they would wish to achieve. This type of advocacy is called NON-INSTRUCTED ADVOCACY.

Theprinciples of Independent Advocacy are about:

  • Putting the people who use it first.
  • Being accountable.
  • Being as free as it can be from conflicts of interest.
  • Being accessible.

WHO IS MY ADVOCATE AND WHAT DOES HE DO?

Tim Bone has 17 years’ experience of working with those with disability and has worked with many clients with neurological disability. as support worker and trainer.

He has been a Self –Management Trainer for 8 years, where he has delivered courses on symptom management to those with neurological disability: Multiple Sclerosis, Epilepsy and Stroke. He has also worked at the Epilepsy Society for 3 years, during which time he supported those living with epilepsy, with their daily living needs. He also delivered training to support staff on rescue medication administration and epilepsy awareness.

He has past advocacy experience, advocating for those with learning disability and the elderly, and offers professional, independent advocacy on a one to one basis.

Working with those with epilepsy, as well as delivering symptom management courses to those with neurological disability, has given Tim an awareness of the needs that those living with neurological disability may have and the issues for which they may require advocacy services. His past advocacy experience and knowledge have given him the skills to advocate for those with neurological disability.

The advocacy role involves helping those with neurological disability resolve the difficulties that stop them from being able to resolve, independently, the issues that they have with authoritative bodies. His role involves: providing the client with a knowledge of their options, their rights and entitlements; enabling the client to have their voice heard; and having their views, wishes and beliefs taken into account in any decision making process that will have an impact on their lives. His role is to ensure that those, making such decisions, treat the client with respect and dignity. As an advocate, Tim will also provide ongoing advocacy with the aim of ensuring decisions that are made are followed through and all agreed action, between client and authoritative body, takes place.

Tim’s role as advocate will also provide those who require Fairway Advocacy’s services with the skills that they require to resolve their present day issue, with the aim of giving them the ability to resolve future issues independently of others. Tim’s role has an ‘empowerment’ ethos and is described as the ‘Empowerment Model Of Advocacy’.

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Fairwayadvocacy.org.uk. SC 044240