Self Advocacy

Self-advocacy is about helping people to find their voice and to take more control over their lives.

Our aim is to create real change for people who have learning disabilities. We help them to have more of say in their services. We help them to organise events and conferences.

The self-advocacy team can be contacted on 024 7663 1040.

Quality checking

Quality checking is one of the ways we help being get their voice heard. This service was commissioned from us by Coventry City Council.  They recognised the importance in measuring services by people who have the experience of using them.

The project employs two workers - one person has a learning disability and has a lot of experience using services throughout his life.

A steering group of people with learning disabilities were supported to design a quality audit system and also provided on going monitoring and advice to us.

We work alongside the City Council Commissioning Team but we are completely independent and we meet with senior managers to discuss our findings and how we can improve services for people in Coventry.

Helen's story

When we first met Helen she was a fun woman with lots to say but had been held back over the years by being in a day service all her adult life.

We began by doing person-centred planning with Helen and listening to her. Helen began to attend meetings and her family started to see her growing in confidence and wanting more for herself.

She completed a leadership course which gave her the skills to think about her future but also taught her very practical skills in doing presentations, using flip charts and powerpoint. Since then she hasn't looked back.

She was a Rep on the Partnership Board and again has been a very active member of the self advocacy team, involved in lots of different events and delivering training to other groups in the region.

As a result of this experience Helen got a job as a trainer and Grapevine supported her for the first six months of her post to deliver training to care workers.