Advocates For Change
The Advocates For Change Project
POhWER, Catalyst 4 Change and Sandwell African and Caribbean Mental Health Foundation are working together to deliver Advocates for Change.
Advocates for Change is a Mental Health advocacy service primarily for people of African and Caribbean heritage and other racialised backgrounds in the Birmingham and Solihull area.
This service is free, confidential and independent from statutory mental health services.
What is the Advocates For Change Project?
The Advocates for Change project is to ensure that everyone has access to an advocate when they need one to enable them to overcome barriers, have their voice heard and have their needs met by mental health services.
Who Can Use This Service?
- Anyone from an African, Caribbean or other racialised background.
- A patient receiving inpatient care for mental health, about to be discharged or recently discharged from hospital.
- Living in the community in Birmingham and Solihull with significant unmet mental health needs.
- You can refer yourself to this service, a health and social care professional or other organisation/ carer providing you with support may also do so on your behalf.
What is the Advocates For Change Project?
The Advocates for Change project is to ensure that everyone has access to:
- Access information.
- Communicate your wishes, feelings and views in relation to care and treatment for mental health.
- With the transition from hospital to community by supporting communication with health and social care professionals.
- Ensure your individual needs are considered in your care and treatment for mental health.
- To consider information so you can make informed choices to prepare for meetings and appointments and subject to availability, attend meetings.
- By giving you information about how to make a complaint about your treatment for mental health and how to make a complaint about Social Services if required.
- Signposting you to other organisations that can provide support on other aspects of daily life such as benefits and housing.
For more information about Catalyst 4 change
- Visit: www.catalyst4change.org.uk/ Email: enquiries@catalyst4change.org.uk Telephone: 0844 884 3318
- For more information about POhWER:
- Visit: https://www.pohwer.net/culturally-appropriate-advocacy- service-birmingham-and-solihull
- Email: pohwer@pohwer.net
- Telephone: 0300 456 2370 (charged at local rate)
- Access to information
- We provide leaflets and information in a variety of languages and formats
- including easy read, audio and videos
- We use communication toolkits
- We have access to translation and interpreting services including BSL