Advocates
What Makes a Good Advocate?
Do you have the personal qualities to be a volunteer advocate?
Volunteering as an advocate is interesting and satisfying. Whether you are working part time, wish to make a career change or are now retired, advocacy might brighten your life.
Here are some qualities of a good advocate...
- Respects confidentiality
- Has excellent listening skills
- Has empathy
- Is able to explain things simply and clearly
- Has good written communication
- Has emotional maturity
- Is confident to research
- Is objective and non judgmental
- Has a desire to foster someone's independence and self confidence
- Has perseverance
- Has an affiliation to their client group
- Has 1/2 a day or more per week available to volunteer
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer advocate please call Katey Nixon on 01452 332830 or email
Volunteering as an Advocate with GOPA
How advocacy volunteers help us support older people to be heard
What does an Older Persons' Volunteer Advocate do?
As one of our advocates you would ...
- work in partnership with an older person to help them resolve a particular issue.
- listen to their point of view
- help them to take action, say what they want and secure their rights. represent their interests and help them obtain the services they need.
What are some examples of typical cases?
Helping with finances: Sometimes even simple things can get complicated for an older person. An advocate volunteered with an older lady helping her to open her own bank account. She was unable to do this alone because all her bills were in her late husband's name.
Helping someone who needs to change where they live: A seventy year old man wanted to move into a care home but he was feeling low after a series of falls and didn't feel able to address all the issues himself. He needed to find out which care homes were suitable for him and put his own home on the market. In his low frame of mind this was too much for him to handle alone so a volunteer advocate helped him.
Visiting Care Homes on a regular basis: Jane visited a care home on a regular basis under our POPP (Partnerships for Older People's Projects) Advocacy Scheme. After the second visit one of the residents told Jane she was always served food she didn't like, and that her tea was always cold. Jane raised this with the care home and they said they had been unaware of her views. On the next visit the same resident asked for Jane's help. She told Jane that her daughter wanted her to move to another home, but she was happy where she was and didn't want to move. Jane offered the older lady support by speaking up for her.