The Advocacy Centre operates a Citizen Advocacy scheme, offering long term one to one advocacy support for vulnerable adults in the city.  This includes people with a learning or physical disability, older people and people with mental health problems.  We prioritise people who have:

• Difficulties in making their views known

• A major life change to face

• Inappropriate support from services

• Poor quality of life

• No-one independent with their interests at heart who can help them

A leaflet about Citizen Advocacy is available to download here

For more information, email Terri Yardley or Stephen Wingate or phone them on 0191 232 7445.

We provide Case Advocacy for people with mental health needs, which is short-term issue related advocacy support.  Examples of issues dealt with are:

• Changes to medication or treatment, or getting a second opinion

• Getting representation and support at a Mental Health Tribunal or Managers Meeting

• Problems with care plans, reviews, case conferences

• Accommodation concerns

A leaflet about Case Advocacy for Mental Health is available to download here

If you would like to make an enquiry about Case Advocacy for yourself you can email us or fill in an Enquiry Form here

If you would like to make a referral for Case Advocacy you can email us or fill in a Referral Form here

For more information, email Linda Allen, Emma Aljoe or Claire Luty or phone them on 0191 232 7445.

Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA)

We also provide Independent Mental Health Advocates who are specially for people subject to the Mental Health Act.  This means most patients who are detained or ‘sectioned’ under the Act, as well as people on supervised community treatment or on guardianship, or their treatment is subject to certain special rules.  IMHAs can:

• Get information about how the Mental Health Act applies to patients

• Get information about their treatment

• Help patients understand information they are given by people involved in their care and treatment and help them to talk to these people

A leaflet about Independent Mental Health Advocacy is available to download here

If you would like to request or make a referral for Independent Mental Health Advocacy you can email us or print a Referral Form here. Please note that the Referral Form must be signed so must therefore be completed on paper and returned by fax or post.

For more information you can email us or phone Linda Allen, Emma Aljoe or Claire Luty on 0191 232 7445.

The BME Case Advocacy project is a free service for everyone from the BME communities aged over 18 and who lives in Newcastle.

We provide short-term advocacy support around health and social care issues.  Examples of issues we deal with are:

• Talking about your treatment with a doctor

• Your care in hospital

• Getting help in your home

• Information about services that could support you

A leaflet about Case Advocacy for BME Communities is available to download here

If you would like to make an enquiry about Case Advocacy (BME) fofr yourself you can email us or fill in an Enquiry Form here

If you would like to make a referral for Case Advocacy (BME) you can email us or fill in a Referral Form here

For more information, email Paul Whitlock or phone him on 0191 232 7445.

If you would like to see information about the BME Case Advocacy Project in another language please select one of the links below.  These leaflets are in PDF format, so you'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader software on your PC to open the documents.  If you don't already have this free software, click on the Adobe logo at the bottom of this screen to download it.

• Arabic

• Bengali

• Chinese

• Czechoslovakian

• Farsi

• French

• Hindi

• Kurdish

• Polish

• Portuguese

• Punjabi

• Turkish

• Urdu

This BME Case Advocacy project has now been evaluated by an independent consultant, Jill Remnant.  To read the report or its summary, please click on the links below.  These papers are in PDF format, so you'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader software on your PC to open the documents.  If you don't already have this free software, click on the Adobe logo at the bottom of this screen to download it.

BME Case Advocacy Pilot Project evaluation report (PDF, 614kb)

BME Case Advocacy Pilot Project summary evaluation report (PDF, 457kb)

We recruit, prepare and support volunteer advocates for this work. Being an advocate is open to all sections of the community. No previous experience is required. However we are looking for a number of personal qualities such as those listed below:

• Communication and listening skills

• Ability to keep boundaries

• Ability to respect confidentiality

• Ability to manage stress

• Ability to be flexible

• Ability to understand and implement equal opportunities

• Empathy

• Reliability and Trustworthiness

• Friendliness

We are looking for people who can give an hour or two a week, during the day or at evenings and weekends who have an interest in promoting an defending the rights of vulnerable people. We offer full preparation for the role, ongoing support and out of pocket expenses.

For an informal chat about becoming an advocate, email Jacqui Jobson, or call 0191 232 7445 for an application form.

At the current time we are only recruiting a limited number of volunteers for Citizen Advocacy.