Be Heard Herefordshire: Self-Advocacy Training & Coaching
Be Heard Project
Helping vulnerable people and professionals who support them to Be Heard in Herefordshire!
Be Heard Herefordshire supports vulnerable, isolated and disadvantaged individuals and groups to develop self, peer and group advocacy skills and has 4 key components…
- Self-Advocacy Toolkits
- Self-Advocacy training for professionals/practitioners
- Self, peer and group advocacy training for vulnerable individuals and groups
- One-to-one self-advocacy training and coaching, delivered by one of our Advocacy Coaches
Self-Advocacy Toolkits
Our bespoke toolkits are aimed at people with the ability to self-advocate, but require additional information, guidance and tips.
The toolkits are adapted to meet the specific needs groups including:
- Those wishing to lodge a complaint against the NHS
- People with mental health problems
- People with learning disabilities (provided in Easy Read)
- Carers looking to find their voices
Examples of tools and guidance included within these kits
- Telephone call planner
- Meeting planner – ‘Questions I want to ask’, ‘Things I want to say’,
- Letter template
- Hints– i.e. Steps to stay calm during telephone calls
- Tips – i.e. Send your Meeting Planner to the meeting chairperson in advance and request it’s added to your file
- Useful national and local contacts
Self-Advocacy Training for Staff/Professionals
Facilitated by an Advocacy Coach, workshops are provided ‘in-house’ (i.e. on the ward / in supported housing / residential home) and are tailored to meet an organisation’s specific requirements.
We provide free training workshops for staff which addresses topics such as –
- An introduction to advocacy (legislation and principals)
- What is self-advocacy
- Why self-advocacy is so important for your service users
- Tips on empowering service users to self-advocate and use peer advocacy
- Benefits for service users
- Benefits for you/your organisation
This helps professionals gain a better understanding of advocacy, be clear regarding what their service users will be learning and recognise and respond positively when their service users are practising self-advocacy.
Client Self-Advocacy Skills Training
Small friendly groups delivered to clients/service users/paitents covering the following issues –
- What is advocacy?
- Your rights and how to exercise them
- Exploring feelings of identity and power imbalance
- Barriers to self-advocacy and how to overcome them
- Resilience and self-management
- How you can help each other (an introduction to peer advocacy)
- Practical tips to self-advocate
All attendees receive a tailored Self Advocacy Toolkit and contact details for Onside Advocacy in the event that they need further support, advice or formal advocacy.
One to One Self-Advocacy Coaching
We have learnt that some individuals wishing to develop self-advocacy skills do not feel comfortable or respond well in group settings. Therefore, our Advocacy Coaches offer 1-1 self-advocacy coaching.
They work through the workshop topics and tools in partnership with the individual in an environment/style to suit the user, including outside and during activity.
Advocacy Coaches stay alongside their service users during the development of their self-advocacy skills. They do not provide professional advocacy, but instead use proven coaching skills to empower and enable individuals to advocate for themselves.
This service is being deliverd by SWAN in Partnership with Onside Advocacy