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 […]
Safeguarding: locking the door before the horse bolts
25th September 2019
We’ve recently carried out a consultation across care groups, community and faith groups to explore what local people understand by safeguarding and how to keep safe. This includes people with dementia, learning disabilities, physical and sensory disability, and mental health problems. We applied the principles of co-production to explore voice, rights, choice and empowerment in […]
Come and grow with us
17th September 2019
This is an exciting time for us as an organisation – we’re growing and developing, bringing new people on board, and exploring new ways of doing things. And we’re doing all of this sustainably, in line with our core values. It’s part of our plan to reach more people and have an even deeper impact […]
Keeping people who use services at the heart of care
23rd July 2019
Judith Davey, CEO, reflects on meaningful involvement People say that genuinely putting service users and patients at the heart of everything we do is what’s distinctive about The Advocacy Project. It’s built into our governance. Baked in. Not an add on. We’re not perfect, but we do try hard. 40% of staff and […]
A platform to hear creative voices
30th April 2019
…by contributing poetry, artwork, stories, and points of view to our Mental Health magazine. We wanted to know what people thought about our mental health magazine, Speakeasy, and if there was an appetite for us to resume the production of a similar magazine. We sought the views of people that live or work in London […]
Come and grow with us
2nd April 2019
This is an exciting time for us as an organisation – we’re growing and developing, bringing new people on board, and exploring new ways of doing things. And we’re doing all of this sustainably, in line with our core values. It’s part of our plan to reach more people and have an even deeper impact […]
Is this the year you start peer mentoring?
5th February 2019
Would you like to attend an introductory course in mental health peer mentoring? Peer mentoring can be a very rewarding and satisfying experience. While working with and helping others to develop their skills, you are developing your own abilities at the same time. Mentors often experience increased levels of empowerment, improved self-esteem, an increase […]
Camden mental health service user involvement
27th January 2019
We are really excited that from 1 February 2019, The Advocacy Project will be working with Camden’s diverse service user networks, amplifying the voices of users of mental health services and facilitating their involvement in the design, procurement, monitoring and review of services. The project will work with service users and mental health commissioners to […]
Loneliness and social isolation
17th January 2019
Loneliness and social isolation are issues that have received increasing media attention in the last few years. Loneliness is damaging to society, it decreases wellbeing and as the Campaign for Loneliness states ‘it is harmful to our health.’ Despite existing and new initiatives designed to prevent loneliness, recent research shows the problem is worsening and […]