Email: referrals2@sheffieldadvocacyhub.org.uk

Referrals: 0800 035 0396

Email: info@sheffieldadvocacyhub.org.uk

Information: 0114 2261674

Referrals

We work to the principles of the Advocacy Charter:

Clarity of purpose

We have clearly stated aims and objectives and are able to demonstrate how we meet the principles in this Charter. We ensure everyone we work with knows what we can do, and what we cannot do.

Independence

We are independent from the Council, from hospitals and other care providers.  We make challenges on our clients’ behalf when its needed.

Confidentiality

We have a written confidentiality policy and make sure we take proper care of information about you.

Person Centred Approach

In most cases, you decide what we do on your behalf.  We have a clear way of supporting people who cannot tell us what they want, to make sure their rights and interests are protected.

Empowerment

We encourage you to speak up for yourself, and to take action for yourself whenever we can.  We want to know what you think about our service and invite you to
tell us.

Equal opportunity

We make sure anyone who needs an advocate from our service can get one, and be treated fairly regardless of their culture, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, disability, age or religion.
We make sure everyone gets a fair portion of our advocates’ time.

Accountability

When we begin work with you, you will have a named advocate and a means of contacting them.  We will ask you to tell us what you think about our service.  We will provide reports to our Trustees, our funders and the general public about our service and how we are doing.

Supporting advocates

We ensure our advocates are prepared, trained and supported in their role, and have regular opportunities to develop their skills and experience.

FAQs

Click on any question that you can see below and the answer should drop down. If you have other questions, please do get in contact with us!

An advocate is a person who empowers someone who has a health and social care related issue to have their voice heard. Advocates are trained to know about the health and social care systems. They are trained in people's rights, and their focus is to enable you, the individual, to have a voice and a say in their own lives. They might help you research information, look through options, help you communicate with other professionals, and walk through the process with you. They are not there to judge or have their own opinion, but rather to champion your views and rights. You can see more on our "What is advocacy?" page.

Unfortunately, our advocacy service can not support with benefits or PIP applications. Our colleagues in the Advice service may be able to give you some information and/or advice around what to do regarding your benefits. You can call them on 0808 278 7820. If you call our number, we will not be able to help you and will instead signpost you back to the Advice number as it is a separate service to us.

We are an issue based advocacy service. You come to us with a particular issue. We support you with the issue, and when the issue is resolved or there's nothing more we can do, then we close the case. You can come back to us in future if there is a new issue and we'll open a new case.

We work one to one with an individual. We don't work with a whole family. It may be that we work with an individual who gets support from their family (or friends) and want us to talk to them. We will talk to family and friends if asked or if that would be in the person's best interest. Our focus is always on the individual's views and wishes as this is our role.

Most of our advocacy types restrict our advocacy work to adults. However, Independent Mental Capacity Advocates as well as our Generic Mental Health Advocates support people aged 16 and above, Care Act Advocates can support those aged 16 and above to transition from Children's to Adults Social Services, and we can support inpatients of the Becton Centre (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service) and their families. There is no age limit for IMHA cases so anyone can access advocacy if eligible for an IMHA. If you want to chat through whether we can support someone, please do get in touch.

We are a confidential service. We store your personal information in a secure and private place that only our Advocacy Hub team have access to. When we are instructed by you, we follow what you want regarding your data. We will only share your personal details if you give consent, unless you or someone else is in danger. If we have to share information for safety reasons, we will only share what is necessary. When you can't instruct us (don't have capacity/ understanding of the issue we're helping you with), we will only share the information necessary with the people who need it so we can support you with your issue. For example, if we're supporting with a deprivation of liberty, we would share information about you with the team in the council (DoLS team) who are responsible for keeping you safe. Please do tell us if there is a particular person that you don't want information shared with so that we are aware of any risks to your safety/ information.

No, our advocacy service is a free service. You don't pay us anything. We get our funding from various places including the council and health services, but we are independent from these services. We work separately to them.

Advocates support you to make your own decisions as much as possible. They will give you information, support you to think of pros and cons of a decision, and to look into options. An advocate does not make decisions for the people they support. They encourage independence, self advocacy and empower the people they work with.

In some situations, you may have a statutory (legal) right to advocacy support. We also have some funding so we can help people even though they don't have a legal right to advocacy (generic advocacy). This all depends on the situation you're in, and what type of advocacy you qualify for. You can look at our "What we do" page for more information on the types of advocacy, or give us a call to chat through your situation.

Contact us

You can contact us to ask a question about our service, about advocacy, to get information or to put in a referral.

Make a referral

Referrals

If you need an advocate for yourself, friends or family

Email us

Email us

We will aim to respond within 3 working days. You can also request a call back.

Speak to us

Call us

You can speak to us to put in a referral or ask a question

Access points

Access points

At the moment, we can only only accept referrals by phone or email. We are developing access points which we hope will increase access to our services. This space will be updated when they are available.