'Advocacy support helped achieve a positive outcome'
As part of our Advocacy Awareness Week 2024 series, we're sharing examples of how #AdvocacyWorks and makes an impact on the people we support.
Our advocacy service doesn’t just stop when a decision is made or a situation is over. We’re here to make sure people’s experiences are shared and their voices are heard and can support people when they’re asked to provide feedback about a service they’ve received.
Our advocate Denise did just this with Rebecca and received recognition from South Tyneside Council for the role advocacy played.
“I just wanted to say what a great experience and pleasure we had yesterday whilst meeting with Denise who was supporting a person to feedback to us on their experiences of our services.
“Denise was a huge support to this person, and it was clear she had built up a really strong and positive relationship with her. It was a real pleasure to see and her support helped to obtain really positive outcome to the meeting for everyone involved.” Practice and Safeguarding Service Manager
For more information about the advocacy services we offer in Newcastle, Gateshead and South Tyneside, visit www.yvc.org.uk/adovcacy.
If you've used local services and want to find out about our User Voice Network, visit www.yvc.org.uk/talk.
The part about not stopping when a decision is made is what separates advocacy from casework: the follow up, where people are supported to describe their own experience, is also the part that makes a short video from a service user worth more than a written case study. We build Reference to Video (https://referencetovideo.net/): give it a reference image or a piece of footage plus a prompt and it generates a coherent clip, which is how a still and a few seconds of footage become something an organisation can publish.