How can community advocacy help me?

Community advocacy can help carers to know their rights, make informed decisions and get their voices heard. An advocate will not make decisions for you or tell you what to do but will help you to explore your options. They can also help you to communicate with professionals and organisations, including making contact on your behalf.

POhWER is a charity offering free, independent and confidential advocacy, information and advice. It offers a number of different types of advocacy services, suitable for a variety of people. For example, their Care Act Advocacy service could help you when you are having a carer’s assessment, or their NHS Complaints Advocacy service could support you to make a complaint about the healthcare you or the person you care for have received.

How to get in touch with POhWER:

Call: 0300 020 0092 (Buckinghamshire) or 0300 456 2370 (general)
Email: [email protected]
Website: POhWER.net (Buckinghamshire)

As a carer, it's important for you to know your rights and to be able to speak up for yourself and the person you care for. Carers Bucks has some information on your rights as a carer.

Carers UK has created a self-advocacy guide for carers. See Being Heard self-advocacy guide for carers.