User Login
Print
Introduction
News & Updates
Contact Us
We hope you have found this website helpful and would welcome any feedback, comments or suggestions you might have. |
Information and SupportChoose the information you want from the list below
Knowsley Mental Health Advocacy ProjectThis project offers a FREE and CONFIDENTIAL service to Knowsley residents with mental health problems. It can provide one-to-one support in a variety of situations and information on mental health services available across the Borough (excluding Kirkby) The aim of advocacyTo ensure individuals do not suffer through lack of knowledge of rights, and responsibilities of the services available to them or through an inability to express their needs effectively. The most empowering form of Advocacy is Self Advocacy, whereby people, perhaps with encouragement and support, will speak out and act on their own behalf. Advocacy is a way of empowering! – through Choice Advocacy ChoicePeople need to be able to make informed choices about the services they use. People need to make up their own mind about major decisions about their care or support. People should be offered the least restrictive options available to them. Access to InformationPeople need information on services, treatment/support, their rights under the law, their notes/records, diagnosis, who the workers and professionals in their life are, and what they are there to do. Information should be easy to access, understandable and offered freely at every opportunity. ListeningPeople need to be listened to, and to be taken seriously. What is Advocacy?Advocacy is about people speaking up for or acting for themselves, possibly with the support of another person or advocate.
Advocates can support you to:
An Advocate can help you to:
What we don’t do:
The project office is open at the following times:- Monday to Friday – 10am till 3.30pm You are encouraged however to make an appointment to avoid disappointment The project also works at local drop-in centres across Knowlsey: MONDAY, The Welcome Club, Halewood, 2pm-3pm THURSDAY, The Sherdley Unit, Whiston Hospital, 10am-11am FRIDAY, Prescot Drop-In, 11am-12pm 24 hour answer machine available Knowsley Mental Health Advocacy Project Address: 12 Aspinall Street, Prescot, Knowsley, England, L34 5QU Knowsley Mental Health Advocacy ServiceWho is the advocacy service for?Anyone from the Borough of Knowsley who is on the enhanced care programme approach. What does it do?Knowsley Mental Health Advocacy Service is about empowerment and inclusion. We aim to support and enable people to:
Our advocates might help you find information that you need or attend a meeting or a review with you. They may be present to support you in saying the things you want to say, and they may go further and speak for you if you don’t feel able to speak for yourself at the time. Our service is independent and will support your wishes. Our advocates will not make judgements or put forward their own opinions. Sometimes other people, however supportive they are, find it difficult to support individuals in doing things they may not agree with. Health and social work professionals have a duty of care: this means that they can’t support you in a course of action that they think might be bad for you. This is where an independent advocate will represent the views of the individual without making judgement or presenting a personal opinion. How to contact usYou can contact the Advocacy Service in a number of ways: Our address is : 14 Westhead Avenue Our telephone number is: 0151 548 4569 Our e-mail address is: knowsleyadvocacyservice.shap-limited.co.uk Assertive OutreachWhat is Assertive Outreach?Assertive Outreach (AO) is an idea that came from the USA in the early 1970s. AO was a method to help people who were discharged from the large hospitals. The early AO teams were designed to provide all the hospital resources within one team. As people who came out of the large hospitals experiencing serious and enduring mental Illness, which affected many parts of their lives, the AO approach needed to be concentrated and focused on all aspects of the person’s social and medical well being. AO was different from other services. The teams didn’t discharge people but always looked at ways of working with them. They would work with people in environments where the service user felt comfortable (cafes, parks etc) instead of traditional settings such as health centres or hospitals. AO became a reality for British consumers of mental health care in the mid to late 1990s in some parts of the UK . Unfortunately, not everyone was getting this type of treatment who needed it. Within the National Service Framework for Mental Health, the government wants all NHS and Local Authorities to provide mental health services to those who need it most. Who is Assertive Outreach For?It is for those people who suffer from a serious and enduring mental illness (such as schizophrenia, bipolar mood disorder, severe and enduring depression) and:
How does it affect me?AO is operational in the Borough of Knowsley in partnership with significant mental health providers, not just the NHS and the Council. Your Care Co-ordinator, AO Team members and other members of the healthcare team have assessed that your needs are better met by the AO Team. This means that you will receive a more individualised care package aiming to work together with you to help with your health and social care needs which are affected by your mental illness The AO TeamThe AO Team is made up of nurses, social workers, occupational therapist, psychologist, psychiatrist and direct care workers, all experienced and skilled in the area of severe and enduring mental illness. Voluntary organisations also play a vital role in Assertive Outreach. All this is provided under one roof, within one team so that the care provided meets your needs. Prescot and Whiston Community Advice CentreWe offer information and advice to members of the public on a wide range of subjects. These include welfare benefits of all kinds, Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit and we operate a signposting and referral policy for other problems. We assist people to complete benefit forms especially Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance, Incapacity Benefit and Income Support. In addition we also offer, through a partnership project between the Prescot and Whiston Centre and the Knowsley Primary Care Trust, welfare rights advice in doctors’ surgeries and home visits to sick/disabled people’s homes in the Prescot, Whiston and Huyton areas on a referral basis. The nucleus of the project is to try to alleviate some of the pressure that doctors are finding from patients whose illness seems to stem from problems they are facing in their daily lives concerning debt and benefit problems (stress, depression etc). The area we serve is the Prescot and Whiston area of Knowsley Borough Council. We want the Advice Service to be available to as many people as possible in the community and we try to be friendly and welcoming to all people coming in for advice. The Centre has limited disabled access to the Central Office in the One Stop Shop. Please see our website for further details including opening hours at: www.prescotwhistoncommunityadvicecentre.co.uk If you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact the Team t the following address: Prescot And Whiston Community Advice Centre, Prescot One Stop Shop, Aspinall Street, Prescot, Merseyside, L34 5GA Tel: 0151 443 4639 Fax: 0151 443 4641 Respite Care - Newby DriveKnowsley currently has a two bed respite facility at Newby Drive , Huyton, which is specifically ring fenced for mental health service users. The beds are occupied on an emergency or planned respite basis. Admissions are usually arranged via effective care coordination. Other options for respite on a residential basis are available at Longview House and other establishments in negotiation with mental health services, service users and their families. Respite can also be facilitated via domiciliary support services for service users and carers. A carers assessor is employed at the CMHT's to provide carers assessments and respite is an area covered within the assessment process. Direct payments are also available within social care for service users and carers and more information can be obtained about Direct Payments from KMBC . For further information about respite please contact your Care Co-ordinator |
- All rights reserved - Copyright© Harveywalsh.co.uk