Meet one of our new trustees, Gemma Bull
19th February 2020
Gemma Bull has recently joined our board of trustees. We’ve been talking to her about charities, funding, what’s important to her and why she wanted to support our work at The Advocacy Project. You’ve recently joined our board of trustees. What attracted you to us as an organisation? The main reason I wanted to […]
Our community choir: a year-long project
18th December 2019
On 2 December 2019 we celebrated the completion of our community choir project at The Venture Centre’s community Christmas gathering. Over the course of a year, more than 100 people sang with us. We performed in care homes, hospitals, community spaces and on the streets of central London. Inspiring us “It has been the […]
Winner of National Advocacy Award for Equality & Diversity
22nd November 2019
We’re delighted to announce The Advocacy Project has won the 2019 National Advocacy Award for Equality & Diversity. Each year the awards are open to anyone involved in advocacy across the UK. This includes individuals, organisations, informal groups and professionals. These awards recognise excellence within advocacy and congratulate exceptional contributions to the field of advocacy. […]
Advocacy Awareness Week 2019
28th October 2019
Advocacy Awareness Week is great opportunity to tell the wider public what advocacy is, and how it makes a real difference to people’s lives. It’s also a chance for people working in advocacy to celebrate achievements, share stories and think more deeply about our practice. We’ve teamed up with the National Development Team for […]
Advocacy as a bellwether
28th October 2019
Why doesn’t advocacy lead to transformational systemic change as often as it should? Advocacy is a bellwether that shows what’s working and what’s not in local health and social care services. It’s an early warning system. Advocacy, whether statutory under the Care Act, Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act or non-statutory, can pinpoint emerging […]
How can we improve outcomes from safeguarding?
28th October 2019
How can the health, social care and advocacy sectors improve outcomes from safeguarding? Simple. By focusing more on prevention. Prevention is better than cure, as is early intervention. The six principles of adult safeguarding and the five P’s of child protection include prevention. So why is the current discourse just about things like whistleblowing, […]
Can we change the system?
28th October 2019
How the power of advocacy and user involvement together can change the system Exploring issues raised in 1:1 advocacy work through user involvement gathers evidence, generates possible solutions through co-production, and drives systemic change. This results in much greater impact on more people’s lives. Rainbow lanyards are a great example of this. You’ll all be […]
Safeguarding: balancing self determination and best interest
28th October 2019
Head to head: Judith Davey and Nicola Youens discussing “Does advocacy have maximum possible impact?” Judith: Reflective practice is an important part of everything we do. That way we learn, improve and deepen the outcomes for the people we work with. Nicola (our Head of Service Delivery) and I are talking about impact and outcomes. […]
Adversaries, collaborators or partners?
28th October 2019
The relationship between the advocate and the professional: adversaries, collaborators or partners? Advocacy is a tough profession. It’s tough standing with people to enable them to speak truth to power, realise their rights, and make meaningful decisions about what happens in their lives. The advocacy code of practice sets out key principles and the expectations […]
A funny thing happened on the way to the foodbank…
3rd October 2019
Mental health problems can rob us of our friends and family. And our self respect. The stigma and shame remains, despite protestations from celebrities that it’s ok to own up to this. You try holding a job down after you’ve disclosed to your employer – and you need to take time off every now and […]