In addition to providing direct advocacy support to individuals, Onside also offers:
Advocacy Training and Awareness Raising for groups or organisations
This can range from talks and presentations to more formal training sessions/courses to provide information on advocacy and its value. Training can include working with staff to look at how they create a more user focused, advocacy friendly environment.
Independent Group Facilitation
Onside can provide support to specifically ensure that people are able to express their views and wishes concerning the service and the support they receive. Work has included support to residents facing the closure of their home, support to complete quality audits and support to residents facing significant changes in day services they receive.
Drop in sessions & support to organisations who wish to ensure their service users have access to independent advocacy
Onside works with a number of service providers to enable service users to have more direct access to advocacy. This has been achieved by the provision of regular drop in sessions in residential and day settings where a member of the Development Team builds links and raise awareness of advocacy. Service users feel more able and confident to ask for support.
Safeguarding Rights Principle
Onside recognises that there can be difficulties in providing advocacy for a person who has limited communication skills and/or severe cognitive impairment. This could include people with severe learning disabilities, people with dementia or brain injury and those with severe mental ill health.
Although the person may not be able to put their opinion across or may simply not have an opinion on the issues involved, this does not mean that they would not benefit from having an advocate to safeguard their right to quality of life. Onside believes that a form of advocacy can be helpful even when there is little or even no communicaton. We call it the Safeguarding Rights Principle.
In these circumstances, the advocate, rather than representing the views of the individual, is working to ensure that their environment is one in which these basic human rights and quality of life issues are afforded value. In this way the advocate is acting to maintain a watching brief helping to safeguard and protect the rights and interests of the person being supported.
Even in situations where the advocate is implementing the Safeguarding Rights Principle it is crucial that s/he maintain a position of not expressing a view. There is a distinction between actively probing the process by which providers reach solutions as against proffering an opinion between alternatives.
The Safeguarding Rights Principle ensure the advocate is clear about the basis in which they are acting and other people are aware that the advocate is protecting ordinary life principles and not expressing the views of the people being supported. A full copy of the Principle is available on request.
For a discussion on these additional services, please contact Kate Harvey on 01905 27525 or email: info@onside-advocacy.org.uk
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