This week is Advocacy Awareness Week (13-17 October) and an opportunity to shine a light on the power of advocacy using a different theme each year. This year it is ‘Advocacy Works’—sharing stories that demonstrate advocacy’s powerful impact on people’s lives.
In Coventry, Grapevine offers a non-statutory advocacy service to autistic people and people with learning disabilities aged 17 or over who aren’t eligible for statutory advocacy due to their circumstances.
Non-statutory advocacy supports people to have their voice heard across a wide range of issues and events in their life. Our innovative approach offers a one-to-one service in a rich ecosystem of other support proven to change people’s lives for good.
Our advocate supports the person to identify clear goals they can work towards together. Then in partnership we build their self-advocacy skills, resilience and hope—while giving the person all the relevant information to make their own decisions.
To mark Advocacy Awareness Week and illustrate how #AdvocacyWorks within an interconnected web of other Grapevine support, we share Lilly’s story.
Lilly’s story
Lilly* and her daughter live in temporary accommodation following a relationship breakdown. Their home has mould and next door’s dog barks day and night.
Lilly is autistic and so is her daughter, who joined Grapevine’s intensive development programme for young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)—Teenvine Plus—earlier this year.
Lilly’s other long-term health conditions and periods of mental ill health, while caring for her young daughter, meant she found getting help hard—particularly because she was concerned that involving social services put her daughter staying with her at risk.
Her housing issue became stuck as a result. Lilly’s health was suffering, her daughter wasn’t sleeping. They were under stress.
Lilly was afraid to use the gas cooker, only ever using electric. They weren’t eating properly.
Lilly once used painting to manage stress but had not lifted a paintbrush for some time.
The situation couldn’t go on. Then Grapevine asked Lilly what mattered most and started there:
- We helped Lilly join a health project and she used her health story to get help herself, as well as helping others. She has developed a communication manual so health professionals better understand her needs
- We supported her daughter on Teenvine Plus to have fun, time outside the home with her peers and space to develop new skills
- We met for coffee with Jayne from Early Help so she could help Lilly with her housing application
- We chatted with Elaine at Central England Law Centre and continue walking alongside her in this process
- We helped her find indoor and outdoor places she enjoys visiting during the day and that don’t cost anything. Lilly can also reconnect with art in some of these places
- We showed her how to use the cooker, sharing a meal with her and her daughter
- We helped them check in on the foster care of their beloved cat.
The outcome wasn’t a new home—not just yet. The outcome is that Lilly is better able to deal with problems.
She is increasing her own agency and feeling able to share what she needs with health professionals.
Lilly and her daughter are now closer to others outside of their family unit and are forming relationships with people who can help with system barriers.
Lilly is feeling stronger. She says: “I feel less trapped. We can get through this.”
Lilly is leading the changes in her life with Grapevine as her “enabler” in building the self-advocacy skills, resilience and support networks she needs to begin the next chapter of hers and her daughter’s lives.
To find out more about Grapevine’s strengthening people work across Coventry and Warwickshire, including detailed information about our non-statutory advocacy service, click here.
Please ask to speak to our advocacy worker by calling 024 7663 1040 or send an email to advocacy@grapevinecovandwarks.org.
This service is funded by the Henry Smith Foundation.
*Name has been changed to protect Lilly and her family’s anonymity.