Aylesbury Vale Advocates

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Services

Are you unsure about whether AVA can help you?

If you can answer yes to all of the following 3 questions, then we may be able to help you with your problem:

1. Do you live within the district of Aylesbury Vale?
2. Are you aged between 18 and 65?
3. Do you have a learning difficulty /disability, mental health illness, or any other problem
which means that you find it difficult to communicate your wishes to others?

We welcome the opportunity to support people from ethnic minorities but have only limited language translation facilities.

You will be treated with respect, caring and sensitivity and the information you give to your advocate will be treated as confidential and will not be shared with others unless we have your permission to do so.

Depending on the nature of your problem, you will be helped either by one of our trained Coordinators or one of our Volunteers. Normally we would prefer to see you at our offices in the centre of Aylesbury but in some circumstances it might be appropriate to meet at a neutral venue or even in your home.

We will first try to find out as much information as we can about your problem so that we can tell you about the various courses of action available to you and also tell you what your rights are. We will try to communicate with you in plain and simple language in order to help you to fully understand what your options are. At every stage in the process we will explain to you what is happening.

We can help with a variety of problems which people sometimes find difficult to deal with on their own. Below are some examples of the type of help we can give. We might:

support you at:

    • an interview
    • a meeting with health service professionals
    • a meeting with a solicitor
    • the County or Magistrate Court, if you have to appear there
    • a care assessment or review
    • a meeting for budget advice
    • a meeting about housing
    • a meeting about benefits
    • a meeting about debt collection
    • core meetings and case conferences concerning care and protection issues
    • a meeting about work issues

discuss problems on your behalf with:

    • mortgage companies
    • your bank
    • a rehabilitation service
    • education officers
    • social services
    • Community Learning Disability or Mental Health Teams
    • other appropriate medical professionals or organisations

help you to fill out difficult forms, if appropriate.

We will try to encourage you to speak up for yourself, when you feel able to. You may feel more confident about doing this knowing that you have someone from AVA to support you.

We will try to deal with your problem as quickly as possible and will keep questions to a minimum in deciding whether or not we can help you. If we are unable to help you, we will give you the names and telephone numbers of other organisations that may be able to support you.

If you think you need the help of an Advocate, then call AVA on 01296 432313.

Our office hours are Monday to Thursday, from 10 am to 2 pm, but you can leave a message and your contact number on our answerphone. Your call will be returned as soon as possible.

PDF download Please click here to download our Referral Form

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