Robert’s Social Prescriber referred him to our service because he had a telephone PIP assessment. He had a gambling addiction which has left him socially isolated. Robert felt unsupported by his family members.

Why advocacy support?

Advocacy support was needed because Robert had not attended a PIP assessment before. Robert wanted someone to be there to ensure that all the information about his gambling and other health issues that impacted him daily were given to the assessor.

How did we help

Firstly, our advocate arranged a date and time in which to ring Robert to carry out a pre-meet. She sought permission from Robert to contact his Social Prescriber to gain insight into his health issues and struggles.

Our advocate was able to fully prepare Robert for his assessment by doing a pre-meet on the day and time which had been arranged. She went through the assessment process because Robert had never had a PIP assessment before. By doing this, Robert would know what to expect and help to relieve some of the stress and anxiety that he may experience. To find out about how his conditions affected him, the advocate asked a series of questions and wrote down this information. During these discussions, Robert realised how his health conditions impacted his daily life.

“Thank you so much for all your help and support. It made the whole process easier knowing you were there for me” – Robert

As it was a telephone assessment, our advocate told Robert that he needed to be more descriptive and give more detailed answers in the assessment because the assessor would not be able to see him and had no visual cues such as body language.

When our advocate was on the telephone assessment with Robert, she was able to prompt and remind him about the things which they had discussed in their pre-meet. This helped to build a bigger picture on the impact of Robert’s health conditions on his everyday life.

Our perspective 

We find that the people we support are more honest and open about their health conditions and how it impacts them daily than they would be in family and friends. This could be down to them not wanting people they know to know about things and/or embarrassment. People can speak to our advocates in complete confidence. Without necessarily realising it, people do make changes or adaptations in their life to make things easier and this becomes their ‘new normal.’

“As an advocacy organisation, we use the advocacy principles in the work that we do. We give people the information in which they can make informed decisions and to enable them to be listened to. We make it clear what we can and can’t do and don’t overstep our role. Signposting is used to enable clients to get specialist support and advice.” – ICANN Advocate