Advocacy

What do we mean by Advocacy?

Advocacy is taking action to help people say what they want, secure their rights, represent their interests and obtain services they need. Advocates and advocacy schemes work in partnership with the people they support and take their side. Advocacy promotes social inclusion, equality and social justice.

Advocacy can…

• Help you to decide what to do
• Tell you about your rights
• Go to meetings and appointments with you
• Find out information and who to contact
• Speak out on your behalf
• Assist you to access specialist advice and support for e.g. benefits, legal advice.

About Advocacy at York Mind

We have been delivering an advocacy service in York since 1997. From April 2017 York Mind has been commissioned by the City of York Council to deliver the York Advocacy Hub, a single point of access advocacy service for the City of York. The hub delivers the following advocacy streams;

• General advocacy (Generic)
• NHS complaints advocacy
• Care Act advocacy (CAA)
• Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy (IMCA)
• Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), Relevant Person’s Representative (RPR)
• Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA)

For more information on any of these specialist types of advocacy please see the York Advocacy Hub website. You can also contact the advocacy office on 01904 414357 Monday to Friday 9am – 5pm. Outside of our opening hours you can leave a message for us on our answer machine and we will return your call when we’re back in the office. You can also email us on office@yorkadvocacy.org.uk.