Adults Advocate

Job Summary

Job title: Adults Advocate 

Responsible to: Head of Support Services

Salary: £25,132.92 per annum, pro rata for part time

Hours of work: Part-time, 17.5 hours per week, flexible working pattern to be discussed and agreed with successful candidate

Contract Type: Permanent 

Annual leave: 30 days + 8 bank holidays per year pro rata 

Location: Location is fully flexible with option to be home based or hybrid. Office base is in Keynsham, Bristol

Closing date: Noon, Tuesday 7 May 2024

Please refer to our Adults Advocate Recruitment Pack for additional information about our organisation, the interview process and the recruitment timeline for this role.

Job purpose

Having been paused to new referrals, Action for M.E.’s free, independent, Adults Advocacy service will soon be re-opening. It’s one of our range of free Support Services that work with adults, young people, and/or families living with M.E. We support colleagues across the team to take part in and share reflective practice, self-care, peer-support and training.

Our Adults Advocacy service offers non-statutory, single-issue, instructed advocacy for adults with a confirmed diagnosis of M.E. We encourage self-advocacy where possible, though many of our clients are too severely affected by M.E. to be able to take undertake this.

As an Adults Advocate, you will manage a caseload of clients, as well as inputting and contributing to the triage process along with your Advocacy colleagues. You will meet with clients by phone, email, Zoom and/or SMS; we can also facilitate communication by post if this is required. We are not able to offer home visits or face to face meetings.

Our current team comprises:

• another part-time Adult Advocate
• our Projects and Participation Senior Practitioner, who manages our small team of Advocacy volunteers
• Advocacy volunteers.

The team is managed by our Head of Support Services, supporting effective collaboration and liaison with our Information & Support service, which is the first service many clients encounter when they contact Action for M.E. looking for help and support.

A lot of clients come to Adults Advocacy with a range of things they want to achieve, so supporting them to consider and prioritise their most important goal is key. Examples of goals we have supported clients with include:

• identifying and bidding for accessible housing that meets their needs
• having their GP surgery put reasonable adjustments in place so they can access appointments
• helping other professionals working with them understand how M.E. impacts them so they can support them better.

Here’s feedback from some of our Adults Advocacy clients:

• “Feel you've done a marvellous job with my GP. It's people like you that make life a bit easier for people like me who are struggling through no fault of their own.”
• “You were the ONLY professional body and individual that took me seriously and I am indebted to you.”
• “I appreciate all you have done and your extraordinary patience and concern during the time I have corresponded with you. You have been unfailingly kind and understanding toward me.”
• “You have been a great support in sorting out the issue with my doctor and providing the impact statement. You have helped me feel more confident in trying to advocate for myself.”

Key duties

Maintaining a caseload

• Contribute to triage of waiting list cases, led by the Head of Support Services.
• Work with clients allocated to you to identify the single issue for advocacy and their desired goal; complete an advocacy agreement; and undertake agreed actions in pursuit of the client’s advocacy goal.
• Empowering your clients to self-advocate where possible.
• Signpost the client to additional support for emerging additional needs that are not addressed by advocacy.

• Safeguarding and record keeping
• Identify safeguarding concerns as they arise and escalate these appropriately, in line with our Safeguarding Policy.
• Record appropriate, up-to-date case notes in line with our Services Recording Policy.

• Evaluation and improvement
• Attend supervision, case reviews and team huddles to reflect on your practice and share peer-support.
• Gather outcomes and satisfaction data from clients to inform service evaluation and improvement.
• Identify opportunities for service improvement and development, working with the Head of Support Services to implement these.

• Other key accountabilities
• Attend Action for M.E. meetings and courses as required.
• Work co-operatively within the Action for M.E. team structure, supporting the work of other teams when appropriate, as agreed with the Head of Support Services.
• Keep up-to-date with best practice and comply with relevant legislation and regulatory requirements, working within the organisation’s policies and procedures and ensure that good practice is observed.
• Positively promote the work and activities of Action for M.E. at all times.
• Ensure that internal and external communications are consistent with Action for M.E.’s position on key issues.
• Undertake any other reasonable activity in line with the responsibilities of the post as requested by the Head of Support Services or any member of the Management Team.

Person specification 
All criteria are essential, unless otherwise stated.

Qualifications

• Level 2 qualification in Advocacy or equivalent demonstrable experience.

Experience and knowledge

• Experience of providing support services to disabled people and/or people living with long-term health conditions, including M.E./CFS if possible.
• Experience of advocating for vulnerable adults as part of a service or organisation, managing a varied case load.
• Experience of using a client database and/or casework management system to log client contact, notes and agreed actions.
• Experience of using self-reflection to aid professional development and peer-support.
• Knowledge and understanding of The Care Act 2014, The Mental Capacity Act 2005, The Human Rights Act 1998, The Equality Act 2010 and GDPR, with relevance to advocacy.

Skills and abilities

• Excellent interpersonal and relationship-building skills, taking an empathic and non-judgemental approach.
• Excellent active listening and written/oral communication skills.
• Effective research skills, with the ability to present a range of information in an accessible format.
• Ability to work within agreed service delivery parameters, policies and procedures.
• Ability to set and maintain clear boundaries to manage expectations of clients and external agencies.
• Ability to appropriately support clients in distress, while looking after your own well-being.
• Ability to take an outcomes-focused approach and gather impact and outcomes data.

How to apply:

Please click on the "apply" button below to submit your application. Along with your CV your cover letter should, in no more than two A4 pages, explain your reason(s) for applying for this role and how you fit all aspects of the person specification set out above and in the Adults Advocate Recruitment Pack.

Strong applicants will list each person specification bullet point related to experience, knowledge, skills, and behaviours and provide evidence of how they meet each of these criteria.

We are proud to be a member of the Disability Confident scheme and offer a guaranteed interview to applicants who can clearly demonstrate, via their written application, that they meet all essential criteria set out in the person specification.

Should you have any questions about the role, or require any reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process, please don’t hesitate to contact our recruitment team on recruitment@actionforme.org.uk

Please note that any applications sent directly to any Action for M.E. mailbox will not be considered.