Download East Lancs Advocacy

Advocacy Focus
Job Description
Job Title:
Area Advocacy Lead (North Lancashire)
Covering the following areas:
Lancaster/Morecambe/Preston/Ribble Valley
Hours:
37 hours
Salary:
£19,817 - £21,734
Length of Contract: Permanent (continuation is subject to funding)
Office Location:
Leyland
Reports To:
Advocacy Manager/Chief Executive
Main Purpose of Job:
To take responsibility for a designated area to ensure advocacy demands are met and
local data feeds into local/national forums to shape priorities relating to
strategies/developments in advocacy, client specific groups, health and social care.
Duties and Responsibilities
1.
To take a lead in a specified area for service development and delivery.
2.
In conjunction with the Advocacy Manager/Senior Advocate to develop area
plans for all aspects of service delivery.
3.
To collate and share data to feed into relevant forums including Health Watch to
highlight changing needs of service users.
4.
To support service users to collectively feed through the potential impact of new
policies/changes to service provision that relate to health and social care.
5.
To take responsibility for own area and liaise with other Area Leads to ensure
equity of service across all areas.
6.
To identify gaps in service delivery for future work and identify potential funding.
7.
To identify potential partnership work to raise the profile of advocacy/tackle
stigma and discrimination relating to client groups/mental health.
8.
To deliver talks, presentations and workshops.
9.
To develop and facilitate area mental health peer/self advocacy groups
10.
To carry a client caseload to retain competency/current service user knowledge.
11.
To recruit, screen, mentor and supervise volunteers to work with service users.
12.
To supervise/mentor and assess student social workers on placement.
13.
To support the delivery of advocacy and related training.
14.
To be flexible to support work across all areas to meet service demands
15.
To undertake duties in line with safeguarding and data protection principles.
16.
To produce reports for the Advocacy Manager, Chief Executive, Board of
Trustees, funding bodies and others as required.
17.
To work as a member of the Advocacy Focus team and attend
meetings and training as necessary.
18.
To attend regular supervision/appraisal sessions with the Advocacy
Manager/Chief Executive.
19.
To represent Advocacy Focus at various meetings as required and to provide
feedback to the team.
20.
To be available to work occasionally in the evening and weekends as required.
21.
To work within Advocacy Focus’s policies and procedures
22.
To be responsible for identifying areas for personal development.
23.
To undertake any other duties as commensurate with the grading of the post.
Person Specification
Essential
Desirable
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Qualifications
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Experience
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Knowledge
and Skills
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Experience of managing a caseload
Experience of supporting people with
mental health through services.
Experience of working with a range of
people including people with learning
disabilities, carers, young people, people
from ethnic minority communities and
people with mental health issues.
Excellent organisational skills.
Excellent communication/outreach skills
Ability to develop and maintain working
partnerships/relationships with services in
designated area.
Ability to use effective marketing
techniques to reach/engage hard to reach
groups/individuals to raise the profile of
the service.
Ability to make presentations to large
audiences/deliver talks/provide
representation at conferences/forums.
Ability to work flexibly.
Ability to work as part of a team and act on
own initiative.
Experience of working as a volunteer or
with volunteers.
Ability to supervise students/volunteers.
Understanding of the Mental Health
Act/Mental Capacity Act/Human
Rights/Safeguarding.
A sound understanding of and
commitment to advocacy and
user empowerment.
Ability to drive and have access to a
vehicle.
Understanding of the role of an advocate.
Excellent communication skills
Good level of skills in the use of Email,
Internet, Word and Powerpoint.
A high standard of written and verbal skills
including the ability to write letters and
reports.
Excellent presentation skills
An understanding of appropriate key
personnel, locations, contact sources and
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A relevant qualification in advocacy or social
work.
Stage 1 Practice Assessor Qualification or
willing to work towards.
Trained to Independent Advocacy
Qualification standards Level 3 (IMHA/Core
modules) or willing to work towards this
accreditation.
Experience of working within the voluntary
sector, paid or unpaid.
Experience of project development,
monitoring and evaluation.
Experience of recruiting, training and
supporting volunteers.
Ability to speak a community language
such as Urdu, Bengal or Punjabi
Ability to sign
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General
Attributes
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an ability to develop these.
Knowledge of Health and
Social Care Services.
Innovative, creative, flexible, and
enthusiastic approach
Team player, able to ask for and give
support to colleagues
Commitment to valuing a diverse range of
people and building on their strengths
Commitment to equal opportunities
Commitment to working with volunteers
Commitment to providing high quality
services, centred on the needs of
vulnerable and disadvantaged groups
Commitment to the values, aims and
objectives of Advocacy Focus
Positive attitude to a hectic working
environment where tasks and systems
need to be developed and updated on a
regular basis
Confident in speaking up