4 Advocate jobs in Devon

Are you passionate about people’s rights?!

We are looking to recruit Self-Employed Mental Health Advocates to work in the following areas:

- Gloucester (GL2 9EE)

- Birmingham (B13 8QE)

- Northamptonshire (NN5 6UD)

- Cambridge (CB21 5EE)

- Luton (LU4 0LU)

- Kent (TN12 0ER)

- Greater Manchester (M46 9NT & M6 7DU)

- Warrington (WA2 8TR)

- Huyton (L36 5SA)

-West Yorkshire (BD20 6TU)

- Wrexham (LL11 1BU)

- Aberbeeg (NP13 2DA)

This is a self-employed position and you will be paid a sessional rate. 

Our Service

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.

This also includes representing them during various meetings such as ward rounds and at multi-disciplinary team meetings.  This role requires you to produce written reports to ensure that the views of patients are fully represented.

We work with adults and children and young people.

DO YOU HAVE:

• Direct experience of working with children/young people or vulnerable adults in a social care or mental health setting.
• Experience and understanding of child protection/vulnerable adult safeguarding procedures
• Ability to maintain professionalism at all times
• An understanding of the importance of listening to children/young people and vulnerable adults without bias or prejudice.
• Ability to communicate in an effective way.
• Ability to record concise case notes and produce good quality reports

You will need to evidence your skills using specific examples in your application meeting the criteria in the person specification.

Safeguarding and Training

You will be required to complete annual safeguarding and compliance training including, Personal Safety, Data Protection, Information Security, Safeguarding and Equality and Diversity.

You will be able to subscribe to an e-learning platform provided by NYAS. The platform will provide 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.

In accordance with UK immigration law, NYAS is required to ensure that all prospective candidates have the legal right to work in the United Kingdom. Therefore, proof of eligibility to work in the UK will be required as part of the recruitment process.

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.

About NYAS

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 lives.

Health and social care are continuously changing, with big shifts happening now in how services are designed and delivered. You will join us at an exciting time to ensure the independent public voice is heard, making sure those services work with and for people. 

This is a challenging, exciting and varied role, line-managing a small team where your input really matters with an employer who is committed to flexible working.

Healthwatch is all about people - capturing the views of local people on their experiences of using services, taking this feedback to NHS leaders and other local decision-makers to improve care, now and in the future, to make a health and social care system that is made for and includes everyone.

In Somerset, the Healthwatch service is hosted by The Advocacy People, who would be your employer. The Advocacy People and Healthwatch share core values which are all about people’s voices: empowering people to speak up; amplifying service user voices; enabling people to participate in, and influence decision-making about health and social care; and provide information which helps people make informed decisions.

In this exciting role you will be

• Leading our feedback gathering activities to ensure that people’s views and experiences of health and social care are captured, listened to and taken account of by decision makers in Somerset at a key time of change and development.
• Developing and leading engagement activities and projects with a wide range of communities in Somerset including those seldom heard or marginalised.
• Line managing and enhancing the leadership of the local Healthwatch team.

We are looking for someone with the creativity and enthusiasm to engage with people and take their experience of health and care services to help improve and shape services across Somerset.

This role is initially fixed term to 31st March 2028 but with a view to becoming permanent.  Ideally, we are looking for someone with experience of working collaboratively in a team in a health or social care role, with great communication and organising skills. The role is home-based with frequent travel within Somerset, attending meetings and events.

The hours are Monday to Friday with very occasional weekend or evening work.

As this role is home-based but with regular travel, you will need a full driving licence and your own transport, with full business cover insurance,  as well as good mobile and internet connections and flexibility with working hours.

About The Role
If you are committed to providing holistic and person-centred support to your clients, and making a real difference in people’s lives, we may be the perfect fit for you!
We have an exciting opportunity to join our fantastic ACN team, as anAdvocacy and Complex Needs Advisor covering Northumberland & Northern Ireland.
The Royal British Legion’s Advocacy and Complex Needs Service operates across the UK, offering holistic support to veterans facing complex and often isolating challenges.
Our Advisors directly support beneficiaries experiencinghomelessness, mental health challenges, issues relating to alcohol and substance use, behavioural addictions, domestic abuse, involvement with the criminal justice system, and other circumstances that may affect the safety and wellbeing of adults, children and their families.
Your work will empower the Armed Forces community to achieve their potential and lead more fulfilling lives.
We have a number of vacancies across our Advisor team as we are delighted to be enhancing our service offering by increasing the size of our team and adding additional Advisor posts to provide more responsive support to our beneficiaries. If you are interested in this role in a different location, please do take a look at our Careers page for more vacancies.
Come and be part of the leading Armed Forces charity, making a difference to the lives of those who have served to keep us safe and protect our way of life.
Reporting to the Advocacy and Complex Needs Manager for the region, key responsibilities will include:

- Complete effective and efficient case management of circa 20 complex beneficiary cases; ensuring case records are maintained, accurate and up to date.

- Complete visits with beneficiaries in their homes to assess need, build and maintain positive, professional relationships, build engagement, review progress and provide practical, person-centred support.

- Work holistically with beneficiaries to explore their full range of needs, identify and agree their priorities, and develop a clear, person-centred support and action plan.
- Provide specialist advice and advocacy, identify appropriate statutory and external services, including mental health, addiction and substance misuse, and housing services, and support beneficiaries with referrals.
- Work collaboratively with beneficiaries and partner agencies to overcome barriers, coordinate support around agreed priorities, and provide practical and motivational support throughout.

Face to face work with beneficiaries is an important part of the role, and the successful candidate will need to be able to travel across the designated area to meet beneficiaries in their homes or other appropriate community locations (travelling within working hours).You must live within the Northumberland & Northern Ireland.Other periodic travel will be required for team meetings.
The successful applicant will require a DBS check at Enhanced level to be undertaken as part of pre-employment checks.
Employee benefits include –

- 28 day’s paid holiday (plus bank holidays) increasing with service, with optional annual leave purchase scheme of up to 5 working days
- Enhanced paid maternity, paternity and adoption leave
- Generous pension scheme with employer contributions ranging from 6% to 14%, depending on length of service
- Range of flexible working options may be available, depending on your role
- Employee Assistance Programme providing confidential counselling, financial and legal advice
- Range of courses delivered by learning specialists to support your development goals and objectives
- Opportunities to volunteer
- Travel loans, Cycle to Work, and more!

For more detailed information about the role, please see the Job Description attached to our direct advert. Our teams take a personalised approach to shortlisting, which is carried out without the use of AI and is based on the evidence provided in your application against the essential and desirable criteria in the Person Specification.
RBL is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive organisation, reflecting the diversity of the armed forces community and of wider society. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and personal characteristics.
As part of our commitment to inclusion, we offer interview schemes for candidates who declare an Armed Forces connection and/or a disability. However, candidates are only eligible for this scheme if their application clearly demonstrates that they meet all of the essential criteria listed in the Person Specification for the role.
We may close this vacancy early if we believe we have enough strong applications to be able to successfully fill the role. Interested candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible.