asistin staffordshire advocacy...
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Your guide to Asist Clear Information advocacy services in staffordshire asist asist making advocacy a right not a privilege
Transcript of asistin staffordshire advocacy...
Your guide to AsistClear Information
advocacy services in staffordshireasist
asist making advocacy a right not a privilege
Welcome Page 4
About advocacy and Asist Page 5 - 6
Asist working with you Page 7 - 8
Working with your advocate Page 9 - 13
Asist policies and rules Page 14
Contents
asist
Privacy and confidentiality Page 15
Data protection Page 16
Equal Opportunities Page 17
Complaints Page 18 - 19
Asist’s Quality Standards Page 20 - 24
My advocacy story Page 25 - 27
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Welcome
This guide is about advocacy and Asist.
This guide is about working together to get people to listen to your views.
The service is free. It will not cost you anything.
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About advocacy and Asist
Advocacy is when a person helps you to speak up and to find out information.
An advocate is trained to support you to speak up using words, pictures and questions.
Asist is independent from other services.
Your advocate works for you and will help you to
We get our money from:
• the government
• charity funding
This means you do not pay anything when we work with you.
Asist mainly works in Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent.
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Asist working with you
Asist can work with you if you have:
• mental health needs
• a learning disability
• physical disabilities
• sensory disabilities.
• phone
• letter
You can contact Asist for an advocate by:
Someone can get in touch with us for you.
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Working with your advocate
You both need to keep each other up to date with the advocacy work.
Advocacy work is based on respect between you and your advocate.
We hope working with an advocate gives you confidence to speak up for yourself in future.
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3Your advocate can help you to find information.
3Your advocate can give you time to think about your choices.
3Your advocate can help you to say what you want.
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2Your advocate cannot take other people’s side.
2Your advocate cannot spend all of their time working with you.
2Your advocate cannot give you advice or choose for you.
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An advocate is not the same as a lawyer or solicitor.
An advocate is not the same as a friend or family member.
An advocate is not the same as other people who work with you.
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When the work is finished your advocate will say goodbye.
You can get in touch with Asist again if you need us.
Someone else can get in touch with us for you.
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Asist policies and rules
Policies and rules say how we should work with you in a safe way.
In the same way we all follow safety rules when crossing the road.
We will send you a copy of Asist policies, rules and standards if you ask.
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Privacy and confidentiality
Unless you want us to share your information we keep it private.
We may break this rule if we think you or other people are at risk.
We will break this rule if a court tells us to share your information.
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Data protection
We keep records locked up and on computers.
Records help us to remember things and to check on your advocacy. You can ask for a copy of your records.
Records are protected by the Data Protection Act. Number: Z5901306.
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Equal Opportunities
We do not discriminate against anyone.
We treat everyone in a fair and equal way.
Your advocate will not support you to show discrimination to other people.
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Complaints
The Asist Managers will try to sort your complaint out with you.
You can have free, independent support if you want to make a complaint about asist.
We will send you a copy of our complaints policy if you ask us to.
You can tell the Asist Managers if you are unhappy with our work.
You can email the Managers: [email protected]
To talk to the Asist Managers about your complaint you can phone the Managers: 01782 845584
You can write to the Managers using our freepost address: Asist, FREEPOST(ST2030) Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, ST4 2BR
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Asist’s Quality Standards
We have a list of quality standards to give you a good quality service.
We want to give you a good quality service.
We may ask you to answer some questions to check the quality of our advocacy service.
Your advocate will listen to you without judging you.
Your advocate will always treat you with respect.
Your advocate will be loyal to you and work for you.
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Your advocate will search for information about your choices so that you can decide.
Your advocate will be on time and apologise if this does not happen.
Your advocate will take action as soon as possible.
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Your advocate will not keep any information away from you.
Your advocate will find the best ways of speaking and listening to you.
Your advocate will keep you up to date about your work.
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Sometimes your advocate may not be able to say for certain what your views are.
Your advocate will then work by asking questions on your behalf.
The questions are about things we all have a right to in life.
This work is called Watching Brief.
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My Advocacy Story
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I phoned my advocate so that he can come and see me.
We have a meeting to talk about what I want.
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My advocate finds things out for me.
My advocate shares information with me so I can make my own decision.
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My advocate helps me to tell people what I want.
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Our work is finished and we say goodbye.
I can get in touch again if I need to.
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Contact
You can contact Asist or you can ask someone to contact Asist for you by:
Stoke: 01782 845584
Stafford: 01785 246709
Harplands: 01782 441630
Asist, Winton House, Stoke Road, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 2RW
published 2016
Some pictures used, with thanks, from Photo Symbols
