Self-Employed Advocate (Mental Health)

at  National Youth Advocacy Service

Interview date: 21st October 2024
Are you passionate about the rights of people with mental health problems in inpatient and residential settings? Are you able to challenge others on their behalf? Do you want to make a difference to their lives?
NYAS provides mental health advocacy to individuals within mental health settings throughout the UK.
Our service provides independent advocacy to people within mental health hospitals and community-based settings. We support individuals to ensure their voice is heard regarding their care and treatment and that they are aware of their rights.
The primary users of our services are vulnerable adults however some settings do include working with children and young people.
Due to expansion and development of the service we are recruiting self-employed advocates to join our thriving workforce and we are recruiting in our Monmouthshire. If you live within one of this geographical area and are able to provide weekly visits to the setting, we would like to hear from you.
This role is most suited to professionals with a portfolio of self-employment work and may be combined with other regional/service work on behalf of NYAS.

We are looking for professional and passionate individuals to become self-employed advocates to support our service delivery.
We provide advocacy support for individuals with mental health issues and learning disabilities at times when it is important for their wishes and opinions to be heard and their feelings expressed, for instance, representing them during discharge meetings, ward rounds and at multi-disciplinary team meetings.
You will provide weekly visits to the allocated setting and deliver independent and confidential mental health advocacy, on behalf of NYAS to vulnerable adults within various inpatient settings in accordance with service specifications to ensure that the individuals you are supporting have their voices heard and that they are actively involved in decisions about their care and treatment.
You will work to agreed outcomes and ensure that individuals are taken seriously and that their rights are respected, helping the person to access and understand appropriate information that is relevant and available to them and will complete case notes to a high standard and input these onto a case management system.
To be considered you must have experience of direct work with vulnerable adults or young people within a health or social care environment and have access to your own laptop.
As part of the recruitment process to become a Self-Employed Advocate with NYAS, all candidates who have been successfully interviewed and completed our safer recruitment process will be required to attend and complete Advocacy training. Further details are discussed at interview.
You will be required to complete annual safeguarding and compliance training including, Personal Safety, Data Protection, Information Security, Safeguarding and Equality and Diversity.
This will be via an e-learning platform provided by NYAS, the 2-year subscription fee is £36. The platform also provides you with the opportunity to undertake a number of other professional courses that you can complete in your own time to maintain your own CPD and is at a significantly reduced cost compared to undertaking each course individually with different providers.
For more information, please view the contract delivery specification below or contact Kelly Dowd, Service manager kelly.dowd@nyas.net
Note for candidates - when completing the application form, it is important that you refer to the person specification within the contract delivery specification and detail how you can evidence the criteria.
NYAS operates robust safe procedures to ensure the protection of the children, young people and adults at risk we work with. To comply with NYAS’s Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy candidates will be subject to an enhanced DBS check, references and a Digital Risk Assessment.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early once we receive a high number of applications.
As an established leading rights-based charity, NYAS (National Youth Advocacy Service) is well positioned to ensure that children, young people, and adults across England and Wales are fully respected, represented, and supported in expressing their views and having their rights upheld.
We work with care-experienced children, young people, and adults who are often reliant on statutory services suffering the negative impact of the cuts in public expenditure. Our combination of social care and legal services places us in a unique position to ensure that they receive the services they need and that their voices are heard.
We are an equal opportunities employer and we are committed to creating an inclusive environment which means NYAS welcomes applications from all individuals regardless of age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, nationality, religion or belief, or any other protected characteristic.
NYAS is proud to share that we are a Disability Confident Employer and we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for our vacancies.
Work with us to help change young lives.
Telephone: 0151 649 8700
Email: recruitment@nyas.ne