Mind in Brighton and Hove: West Sussex Advocacy

Services

	Community Advocacy
	Crawley & Horsham
	Dementia Advocacy
	East Brighton
	Experience in Mind
	Inpatients Advocacy
	Inquiring Minds
	MindOut (LGBT)
	Over 65s Advocacy
	Resource Room
	Substance Misuse
	User Involvement
	Welfare Benefits
	W Sussex Advocacy

Jobs & Involvement

Publications

Crisis Support

"Without this service my life would be extremely dismal and I would certainly have been homeless over the Xmas period"

West Sussex Advocacy Service User

It can be hard to tell others if you are concerned about your treatment or care whilst using mental health services. An advocate can help you either by supporting you when you wish to voice your concerns, or by representing your concerns if you feel unable to do so.

All Mind advocacy services operate independently of the mental health or social services. You will be listened to and treated with respect. The service offers you the opportunity to talk to someone in confidence about issues relating to your treatment. We do not share information with other agencies without your permission unless you or someone else is at risk.

We will not tell you what to do or make judgements but help you to make choices and say what you want from services.

The West Sussex Advocacy Services can help you to:

	be treated with respect and as an equal
	ask questions
	be heard and say what you want to say
	be included in the decision making process
	understand your options and make choices
	know your rights

A West Sussex Advocate can:

	support and/or represent you at meetings, care planning meetings or doctors appointment
	help you to access mental health services or help refer you to other professionals e.g. solicitors or debt advisors
	Provide information about community care and other support
	help you to challenge a decision about your treatment or care
	help you to make a complaint

The Speak Your Mind project commenced in August 2005 as a 9 month project (funded by West Sussex Children’s Trust) to develop service user involvement in West Sussex. The objectives were to consult with CAMHS service users, other young people and CAMHS practitioners about how best to involve young people in future CAMHS delivery and decision making.

The project aimed to:
- research models of service user involvement
- consult with young people on their experiences within CAMHS
- consult with CAMHS practictioners on their ideas for service user involvement
- report on the findings and develop recommendations
- support a group of young people to present the findings at a CAMHS Away Day in March 2006

A total of 59 young people were consulted and 30 took part in workshops aiming to develop activities and materials around service user involvement. 15 young people presented the findings at a CAMHS Away day. A total 25 CAMHS practitioners out of 126 responded to our questionnaire.

The findings showed that young people had lots of ideas on how CAMHS could be improved and that they wanted to be more involved in their care and treatment and in developing CAMHS services.

The Speak Your Mind Project has been a very important first step to genuine service user involvement and Mind in Brighton & Hove are continuing to investigate longterm funding opportunities to continue supporting this work.

For further information on this project you can download the complete report below.

Service Opening Hours
West Sussex Advocacy service operates 9am-5pm on Monday-Friday. Our services include:

WAMHS Advocacy
For adults aged 18-65 who are inpatients or living in the community

	MID Downs Advocacy covering Crawley and Horsham (Monday-Friday). This service is based at Horsham Hospital from Monday - Friday, and at Crawley and Horsham Mind Services on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
	MID Downs Advocacy covering Mid Sussex (Monday-Thursday). This service is based at Linwood CMHC
	Speaking Out Advocacy throughout the Bognor Regis, Chichester and Midhurst areas (Monday-Friday). This service is based at the Centurion Mental Health Centre
	Pressure Point Advocacy covering Adur, Arun and Worthing (Monday-Friday). This service is based at West Sussex Advocacy Services

Speak Your Mind Advocacy
For young people aged 11-19 who are inpatients or living in the community

	covering the North of the county (Tuesday, Thursday and Friday). This service is based at Sussex Centre for Children and Young People
	covering the South of the county (Monday, Wednesday,Thursday). This service is based at West Sussex Advocacy Services

Project Funding
The West Sussex Advocacy services are funded by The West Sussex Mental Health Commissioning Team.

Downloads
West Sussex Advocacy Leaflet
Speak Your Mind Consultation Project


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