What is Advocacy and How Can Meic Help?

Have you ever needed to speak to someone about something but you’re not sure how to get your point across properly, or you don’t feel comfortable talking to them? There’s a thing called advocacy where someone can speak on your behalf to help you get your point across. This is something that Meic can offer.

This article is also available in Welsh – I ddarllen y cynnwys yma yn Gymraeg – clicia yma

What is advocacy and how can Meic help?

Advocacy is a right that you as a child or young person has. It helps you to speak out about the things that are important to you and to be involved in decisions being made about you. An advocate will help you to speak and ensure that people listen if you’re struggling to get your voice heard or feel that you can’t talk.

If you contact Meic and you need help to speak to someone, to get your point across, or to be listened to then our advisors can help. They can be your advocate and talk to people on your behalf using your own words. We can even set up a three-way phone call so that all three of us can be on the line together and we can help you get your point across and understand what’s going on.

What kind of advocacy can I get?

It can be anything where you need help to speak to someone. Maybe you’re being bullied at school and want help to talk to the teachers. Perhaps you’d like to see a doctor about your anxiety, but you’re worried about contacting them to make the appointment. It could be that you’re unhappy with something that’s going on with social services and you want help to talk to someone to tell them what’s going on.

These are just a few examples. There are lots of situations where you might feel you need help to get your voice heard and Meic can help with this.

How can I get advocacy from Meic?

You can contact Meic about any issues or questions that you have and our advisors will find the best solution for you. They can offer information and advice and can offer advocacy in two ways. They might work with you towards self-advocacy, which means helping you to understand what you want to say so that you feel confident in speaking up for yourself. Or they can advocate for you, so after speaking to you and figuring out what it is you want to say, they will talk to someone on your behalf, using your own words, to get your point across – you can be a part of this conversation with a three way call if you want to.

The Meic website has some great blogs to read that can offer lots of great, easy to understand information without talking to one of our friendly advisors. Maybe you’ll find some of the answers you need there. You can search specific words by using the magnifying glass in the top right-hand corner or you can just search through the blogs in our articles section.

Take a look at our blog ‘What Happens When I Contact Meic’ or if you want to get to know our advisers better check out our ‘Interview With An Adviser’ blog.

If you can’t find what you need on our website or you’d like to talk to someone, you can contact the Meic helpline every day between 8am – midnight via phone, text, or online chat. It’s completely free to get in touch and is confidential and anonymous.

Meic10

You can always lean on Meic for support – we’ve been giving children and young people across Wales information, advice, and advocacy for over 10 years. Check out our blog to watch our new video and to look at some of the stuff that’s happened in the world over the last 10+ years of Meic.

Want to know more about the services that Meic offers? Check out more about information, advice and advocacy on our blog – #Meic10

• Meic: Over 10 Years of Information, Advice and Advocacy
• How Can Meic Give Advice?
• How Meic Can Help Provide Information?