Getting advocacy support

Find an advocate to help you with things like getting information about treatments or making complaints.

Advocacy services help people, particularly those who are most vulnerable in society, to:

• access information and services
• be involved in decisions about their lives
• explore choices and options
• defend and promote their rights and responsibilities
• speak out about issues that matter to them
• access support to make an NHS complaint about a service they have accessed

Birmingham Advocacy Hub

The Birmingham Advocacy Hub delivers the following services:

• Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy (IMCA)
• Relevant Person’s Paid Representative (RPPR)
• Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA)
• Care Act Advocacy
• NHS Complaints Advocacy
• Community Advocacy
• Group, Citizen and Peer Advocacy

CASBA Advocacy

CASBA provides advocacy support for adults with learning disabilities in Birmingham. These include:

• Parents Together: specialist advocacy support for parents with learning disabilities who are going through periods of crisis.
• CASBA Forward Carers: support for those who are in a caring role for adults aged 55+ who have a learning disability.
• Mutual Carers: advocacy and volunteer support for carers who are becoming ill or frail and are concerned about a person with learning disabilities they care for.

People in Partnership

People in Partnership offers advocacy to parents with learning difficulties or disabilities and parents with a mental health issues.

Services include:

• Direct advocacy support to parents/expectant parents with a learning disability/difficulty/autism to support them throughout child protection/care proceedings.
• Direct advocacy support to parents/expectant parents with mental health problems to assist them throughout child protection/care proceedings.
• Follow-on advocacy support to learning disabled parents post-proceedings.

National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS)

NYAS offers individual advocacy and a range of information, advice and support to ensure that the views, wishes and feelings of children and young people are respected and their voices are heard when decisions are being made about them. They provide advocates for:

• Children in care or children who are subject to a child protection plan.
• Care leavers and care experienced mothers.
• Children and young people who are in-patients in mental health settings.
• Children with disabilities.
• Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA) to children, young people and adults detained under the Mental Health Act.

Birmingham Citizen’s Advice Bureau

Citizen’s Advice Bureau (CAB) provides free, independent, confidential and impartial advice to everyone on their rights and responsibilities. They aim to provide the advice people need for the problems they face and improve the policies and practices that affect people’s lives.

If you need help understanding the right organisation to support you please contact us by email on info@healthwatchbirmingham.co.uk or call (freephone) 0800 652 5278