Supporting self advocacy

 

These 10-week courses were used to support individuals build up the skills, knowledge and confidence to speak up for themselves and exercise their rights.

On one of the courses the work was co-delivered by someone with lived experience of an Assessment and Treatment Unit, now living in a community support setting.

The course involved looking at:

·        What self advocacy is and what self advocacy groups do?

·        A range of scenarios to practice speaking up

·        Self advocacy skills and what gets in the way of advocating for yourself

·        Decision making and rights in relation to the Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act

·        Good and bad support

·        The importance of peer advocacy

Self advocates went on to speak at a regional conference about the importance of courses such as these for in-patients and reported they had started to better represent themselves in their Care and Treatment Reviews.

For more information contact Kirsty Morgan