Advocacy Spotlight - Jan
In our Advocate Spotlight series, we're introducing some of the people behind our independent advocacy service - the skilled, dedicated advocates who work every day to support people who need them.
Meet Jan
How did you become and advocate?
My working life for 40 years had been in social care. I enjoyed many roles from Care Assistant to Regional Manager. I worked with adults, not children. When I was offered redundancy in 2021, I decided to reduce my hours to part time and thought that advocacy was a natural choice to continue my work supporting people and their carers/families.
What is best thing about your job?
Being able to support people who are often experiencing huge difficulties in their life, or in the life of their family member.
What are most proud of as an advocate?
Developing a relationship with the person I am advocating for which enables them to trust me to represent their views and express their feelings and wishes to those who need to understand.
What is most significant impact you have made/outcome achieved?
Given the amount of contacts I have had with so many people over the past four and a half years, this is a really difficult question to answer - the most recent was this week when I was asked to get involved with a man due to be discharged from his section to a residential care home in an area his wife would not be able to make her way to.
His wife, who is the only person this man still recognises and who sees him daily on the ward, could only travel by public transport so I challenged placements he was offered that would affect the visits he received from his wife which were important to him.
What is a working day like?
My working days are all so different. I always try to start with planning for the day- reading past notes and making a plan for each forthcoming event - telephone calls/ emails/ visits to see the person/ Discharge planning meetings/ MDT's/ CTR's/ my own supervisions, team meetings or training events.
I manage my own diary, and this flexibility is crucial in enabling me to maintain the work life balance I need.
What is your favourite film?
One Flew Over The Cookoo's Nest with Jack Nicholson is the film which influenced me so much when I saw this as a much younger person and remains my favourite today.
Tell us something interesting/weird/fun?
I went to Prague to give a talk on my work as a manager of services for people on the autism spectrum in 2011 when working for ESPA.
For more information about our advocacy services, visit www.yvc.org.uk/advocacy.
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