Kirklees Advocacy Service Across Kirklees

Annual Report 2016 –17

Tel: 01924 438438 www.cloverleaf-advocacy.co.uk

Cloverleaf Advocacy 9 Wellington Road

Dewsbury WF13 1HF

You’re doing a smashing job here.”

A letter from the service managers

Five achievements 2016–17

Meet the team

A day in the life of an advocate

Community group work and training

Volunteer experiences

Simon’s experience

Five future goals

Contents

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It’s good there are groups you can go to and talk about issues and know that you aren’t on your own.”Person who has worked with advocacy

I am happy to have the advocates here. I’m all for this, there are a lot of people here who would benefit from having an advocate.”Manager

A letter from the service managers

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Hello everyoneThank you for taking an interest in our annual report.

We have been really busy over this last year. Since we were awarded the new contract, which began in April 2016, our service has been in more demand than ever!

Over this past year we have continued to promote and build our service throughout Kirklees. In providing both generic and Care Act advocacy, we deal with ever increasing numbers of referrals, and continue to receive excellent feedback from people who have accessed our service.

Sadly we had to say goodbye to a few valued team members this year. The good news is they stayed within Cloverleaf, so we can still tap into their expertise when needed! Despite our team going through these staff changes, we have a full and dedicated team, who all work hard to make sure we can offer everyone the quality service we pride ourselves on.

One of our focus points this year has been spent looking at our group and community work. We wanted to make sure self-advocacy skills are promoted throughout Kirklees, to those in the community as well as people who are already accessing services. We receive fantastic feedback about this work, and you can read more about this, and the work we have been doing, in the report.

We have also had a number of volunteers join our service this year too. One of these is a social work student, who has made herself a valued member of our team and will be sorely missed when she leaves this summer. Our other advocacy volunteers and mentors have brought with them an abundance of knowledge, skills and time, and are helping to make our project successful. While our advocacy mentor role is still in a trial period, it is looking like it will develop into an important part of our service. If you’re interested in this, there is also more detail about this in our main report.

While it has been a busy year, we have enjoyed every minute, even though at times an eight day week would have been useful! We hope to continue in strength over the next year, and look forward to continuing to work with the people of Kirklees community and services.

Kind regards

Steph Sheard and Julia Faulkner

Thank you. I am proud I can stand on my own.”Person who has worked with advocacy

I feel the sessions were beneficial in making people think about themselves and others.”Staff member

Five achievements 2016–17

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Here are some of the many achievements by our team this past year…

Self-advocacy groups have successfully supported a variety of client groups throughout this year:

■ Learning disability■ Long term condition■ Mental health■ Older person (aged over 65)■ Older person with dementia■ Physical disability■ Sensory impairment■ Stroke

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Through 2016–17 we provided one-to-one advocacy to approximately 200 clients per quarter.2

We have provided almost 8,000 hours of advocacy casework throughout the year.3

While referral rates have remained steady, advocacy case work hours have increased by around 35%. This evidences the increasingly complex cases advocates are providing support for.4

I’m glad you come, you’re like the core holding things together.’’Person who has worked with advocacy

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Reason for referral 2016-17

Num

ber o

f peo

ple

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Acco

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ion

Chan

ges

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are

plan

Child

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tect

ion

proc

ess

Com

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icat

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pro

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Confl

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fam

ily a

nd s

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s

Nee

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ts

Prep

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Prov

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car

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n

Revi

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supp

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Safe

guar

ding

Safe

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(Car

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Sign

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spe

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gro

ups/

serv

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Supp

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/MDT

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Our service has continued to successfully provide Care Act and generic advocacy.5

People who don’t normally socialise have been attending the session.’’Manager

6 Simon’s experience

Simon* has a learning disability and autism. Simon tells us he likes to talk through issues with an advocate before managing meetings or contact with professionals himself. If he says he is finding a particular meeting or issue a little more difficult, he will instruct us to support directly in being more involved with the process.

Simon’s comments about his support from Cloverleaf Advocacy are as follows:

Cloverleaf ring me when they say they will and they meet me at the time they say they will. They help me make lists and print them off to take to meetings. They always ask if I want them to come to my meeting or not and help me give opinions.

I see them before meetings and if I get stuck they help me talk. It helps me when they come to meetings. There should be more Cloverleaf. They should provide other support too in Batley.

Cloverleaf let me talk and I call them when I need help. They don’t always come to the meeting if I don’t want them to. If people don’t listen I need an advocate. When things are not going well I can use the advocate. If it’s going well I don’t. It’s important I have choice.”

* Client’s real name has been changed for confidentiality.

I enjoy facilitating groups as I get to meet some lovely, inspirational people who can often surprise themselves at what they are able to achieve, even in the smallest things, simply through sharing in the group dynamic and through being really ‘present’ with others.’’Group facilitator

It made me think about my rights as a person. I’m thinking about moving on and making changes and going somewhere new.”Person who has worked with advocacy

08:30 I start the morning working from home, checking and responding to e-mails and writing up my notes from earlier in the week (that is logging notes on Lamplight, our electronic records system).

09:30 I set off to my first visit of the day. I meet with Betty, an elderly lady who is currently in Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, she does not want to return home and her Social Worker is looking for new permanent accommodation for her. She has been shown a flat earlier in the week and we spend time discussing what she thinks of it and the process of bidding on and being offered council properties. Betty says that she will go to the council and say that she is homeless, I tell her that I do not believe that they will treat her as homeless as she has an address she could return to but I agree to contact the Housing Solutions Team on her behalf to check this.

11:00 After leaving the hospital I drive to Dalton for my second visit. Tracey is a lady with a history of physical and mental health problems. I was told earlier in the week that Tracey would be receiving a letter so I went to her home to check that she had got it and that she had understood it. Tracey said that she didn’t need me to go over this and that she was happy that she understood the content. Tracey and I talked about the increase to her care package that she has been offered to include day opportunities. However, Tracey said that at the moment she is not interested in this. Professionals have also suggested that Tracey consider moving to an Extracare housing scheme and I offered to make a visit to one of these schemes with her, Tracey thanked me but said that she does not want to move from her home. I remind Tracey that she should feel free to contact me if anything changes.

12:00 I eat lunch in my car and drive to the head office in Dewsbury. Although this is not my usual workplace there are computers there for hot-desking and desk space where I can set up my laptop. We have a student on placement at the moment and she is in the office. We talk about a Best Interests meeting we attended the previous day and the next steps to take with that client.

A day in the life of an advocate… Libby Plum

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Friday 17th February 201713:00 I call a care home in the hope of visiting as one of my clients is having a trial stay. However, they have an infection outbreak and I am not able to visit. I use this extra time to write up notes from earlier in the week, it’s Friday and I’m still writing notes from Monday. If I get more than about a week behind in writing up my notes I will block out time in my diary to catch up as I take accurate and contemporaneous recording very seriously.

13:45 I leave the office for my last visit of the day. I am meeting with Jazz, a lady with a learning disability to talk to her about an on-going safeguarding investigation in which she is the alleged victim. Members of Jazz’s family are at home but they have always let myself and Jazz use the front room to talk alone when I have visited. Jazz’s two support workers arrive. I was not aware that she had invited them but she told me that she wanted them to be at her meeting and I say that this is fine. Jazz hasn’t been sent the minutes from the strategy meeting which neither of us attended so I go over these with her. Jazz tells me that she would like to attend the next safeguarding meeting and I agree to support her to do this. Jazz and her support workers raise issues with me that are unrelated to the safeguarding investigation but are part of the bigger picture of providing Jazz with good support and promoting her engagement and wellbeing. I suggest I contact Jazz’s social worker to tell him about the things that she has raised with me. Jazz is happy for me to do this.

15:30 The drive from Dewsbury to Huddersfield takes me about an hour at this time of day (twice as long as it did at lunchtime). I feel that there is little point in going in to the office so I go home. Once home I check my e-mails again but there is nothing urgent. I message my “buddy” to tell her I am home and check that she has finished visits for the day as this is part of our lone working policy. I add actions agreed today to my ‘to-do’ list for next week and check my diary as to what I have planned on Monday morning. At 16:30 I am finished for the week.

Community group work and training

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Self-advocacy trainingAfter a short consultation period at the start of this financial year, we revised our model of group work in the Kirklees community. It was decided we would reduce the number of sessions per course, and instead increase the number of venues and organisations we

would provide our courses for. We aimed to reach more individuals and a wider range of groups. This change would also give us more opportunity to network and promote our service to more individuals and organisations within Kirklees.

In July 2016 the first taster sessions were run for the self-advocacy training. The model overview is as follows:

• Two structured basic sessions on self-advocacy skills are offered.

• There is the option, if needed, for two more sessions around specific issues the group may identify.

• The training is open to any groups who meets our contract criteria and relevant staff and volunteers.

We received excellent feedback from our initial training sessions, and continued throughout the year to roll out this model. Some of the venues we have run training sessions at in Kirklees this year are as follows:

• Brian Road Day Centre

• The Weasley Centre Friendly Club

• Age UK day centres

• Making Space dementia groups

• Memory Lane Café drop-in Batley

• Huddersfield Over-50s’ Forum (HOFF)

• Ambitions

• Longwood Grange

• Mencap Shop Dewsbury

• Birch Tree

• Leonard Cheshire Beachwood

We have many more planned for the future!

Significantly one person has come to me and asked for support to talk to their family about the future and I think this is a direct result of the group sessions.”Staff member

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We originally started a dementia drop-in in partnership with Carers Count at Heckmondwike Library. While it started with some attendance, numbers declined and it quickly became clear it was not the right venue. Some residents from Meadow Green had attended, and suggested we move the group to there where people may benefit. We attended a housing meeting and ran an introductory session in July asking residents if they would like a group there and what they would want from it.

ExtraCare Housing: Coffee morning at Meadow Green

We continue to look to undertake effective partnership working. Some partnerships in planning are with Carers Count, to undertake some work for people with dementia and their carers, and the WomenCentre, to provide self-advocacy training for parents with learning disabilities who have been through child protection processes.

Future plans

This work resulted in our Thursday morning coffee group at Meadow Green, designed to offer advocacy advice and signposting to appropriate services. However, over time it became clear individuals there really appreciated the peer support space our sessions provided.

It has taken some time to engage the large number of individuals who now regularly attend. This includes individuals from the dementia unit and family members who attend with a resident.

We are now looking at ways that people involved in the group can take more ownership of it, as well as involving the group more in the community and recruiting volunteers.

We hope over time we will be able to slowly reduce our involvement, and for the group to continue to be run by residents and volunteers with minimal support needed from us.

This was helpful. I have a better understanding of self-advocacy now than before.”Person who has worked with advocacy

Volunteer experiences

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Susan Gorman has been on placement with us this academic year as part of her social work degree at Huddersfield University. Here is what Susan had to say about her experience as a student with the Cloverleaf Advocacy Kirklees Advocacy team:

I started with Cloverleaf in late 2016 as a final year social work student. The word ‘advocacy’ is something we always come across in our studies, but until I began working here, I never really knew what it was or indeed the importance of it. 

I have met and worked with clients from all walks of life. One thing I love about this job as that no two days are the same. 

Despite social workers having a person centred approach, the service user can often be lost within a complicated system of red tape, constricted by the limits of what is available, a social worker’s limitations and what is thought to be in a client’s best interests.

Over the last year we have been piloting our new volunteering role, for a volunteer mentor. This has been tried out with one volunteer and, due to its success, we are looking to recruit more in the near future.

The volunteer mentor role is one that compliments that of the paid advocate’s role. Due to advocates having high caseloads and supporting with often complex social care issues and processes, they do not have the time to support the client with lower level issues, which are often linked with the problematic situation. Volunteer mentors are able to fill this gap. The purpose of the role is to help increase self-advocacy skills, confidence and access to appropriate services.

Our volunteer mentor Alan, has this to say about his experience so far:

Social work student

Volunteer mentor

An advocate helps to ensure that their wishes are voiced and listened to. Having the experience of looking at needs and wants from a client’s point of view is a very different role to social work, one that has been challenging yet highly beneficial. I feel every student should have had the privilege of working in an advocacy role, it gives an entirely different perspective to working with vulnerable adults.

I feel privileged to have  been part of a fantastic team who have shown me nothing but warmth and continuous  support. Each member of the team showed patience and were always there to give advice when I asked for it, each having their own niche of specialism. I have been able to support people who have made me laugh, cry, worry, but most of all smile! What I have learned during my months with Cloverleaf is invaluable, and I will take this on to my next role, whatever that may be. 

Thank you to each and every one of you!”

I have been actively involved with the Cloverleaf Kirklees Advocacy team as a volunteer client mentor since April 2016, having previously worked as a paid advocacy worker with Cloverleaf from 2000–2005 until my retirement. As a mentor my role is to compliment the role of the paid advocates in situations where their involvement is not appropriate

or no longer required, but where the client may still benefit from continued time limited support. This may involve encouraging clients to prepare for and attend meetings, to understand and deal with problems they may face and wherever possible to speak up for themselves. I have attended numerous joint initial meetings with clients and their advocates

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and in doing so hopefully reduce time pressures upon advocates, where joint visits are Cloverleaf policy. In my volunteer capacity I have received regular support and encouragement from the advocates and from the Service Manager who is my supervisor. Although my involvement is still at an early stage I feel I am making an effective contribution to the work of the Advocacy Team.”

There are a number of voluntary roles that often become available within our team. These primarily include group worker and mentor work. If you are interested please get in touch. We would love to hear from you!

Meet the team

Steph SheardService Manager

Julia FaulknerService Manager

Libby PlumAdvocate

Angie ZielonkaAdvocate

Brian ArmstrongAdvocate

Hannah TiffanyAdvocate

Jill JohnsonGroup Facilitator and Self-Advocacy Trainer

Angie Boycott-GarnerGroup Facilitator and Self-Advocacy Trainer

Nargis Mohsin AbbasiProject Assistant

Alan BaileyVolunteer Mentor

Five future goals

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Look at new and innovative ways to provide advocacy in Kirklees, working jointly with other services.4

To develop the mentor volunteer role, including to recruit and train further volunteers to enable them to undertake independent casework.3

Continue to promote Care Act advocacy to social services.2

Develop and improve the work we do in relation to safeguarding. To improve links and build on relationships with safeguarding teams and appropriate local authority services and departments.1

Review ways to develop further client involvement in developing our service.5

We had different people around us to help us and talk to us. They listened to me.”Person who has worked with advocacy

Advocacy is really helpful. I feel I am listened to more in meetings now you are coming with us.”Person who has worked with advocacy

I find it helps me to make myself get out and go to things like this.”Person who has worked with advocacy