National IMCA Conference

 
Date: Thursday 12th November 2015
Time: 09.30 – 16.30
Venue: Smart Aston Court Hotel - Derby

We are pleased to announce that Empowerment Matters will be hosting an IMCA Conference this November. It’s been a while since the last National IMCA conference and much has happened since then that’s impacted on the IMCA’s role and practice. The Cheshire West judgment has resulted in many more IMCA instructions bringing challenges for IMCAs to address in their everyday work. Keeping up to date with case law and other developments that affect the people IMCAs support and represent continues to be important and yet for many there are few opportunities to attend events specifically for IMCAs.

Whether you are a new IMCA or a more experienced IMCA, this one day conference provides the opportunity to update your knowledge related to your role, get answers to questions about practice, policy and law and offers a chance to network with others to share best practice, solutions and experiences.

Tim Spencer-Lane will be speaking about the Law Commission’s project which is undertaking a review of the legislation underpinning DoLS and also how DoLS should be authorised and supervised in settings other than care homes and hospitals. We will hear from Niall Fry, MCA Policy Lead at the DH on the work of the MCA steering group and lawyers from Irwin Mitchell who will focus on significant case law to emerge from the Court of Protection and its relevance for IMCAs. Other speakers include Professor Celia Kitzinger, Professor Jenny Kitzinger,  Professor Wayne Martin and Natalie Brown from Asist who will speak about topics that are relevant to IMCA practice. Many IMCAs are also independent advocates under the Care Act. Members of a Care Act panel, including Irwin Mitchell lawyers, Mark Neary, Mithran Samuel, Community Care's Adult Editor and Steve Broach, barrister at Monckton Chambers will speak about how the Care Act is working in practice, emerging case law and will answer questions on matters related to individuals who are supported by an advocate under the Care Act.

The conference is sponsored by Irwin Mitchell solicitors.

Delegate rate: £85 

To book a place please click on this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TZLDZLV

Review: A Practical Guide to the Mental Capacity Act 2005, by Matthew Graham & Jakki Cowley

Further to the recent publication of this book which Jakki co-wrote with Matt Graham, Lecturer in Social Work and Chief Examiner for Social Work at the University of Kent, @MaskedAMHP (for those familiar with Twitter) has written an extremely positive review for anyone that might be considering purchasing the book. http://themaskedamhp.blogspot.co.uk

To purchase a copy of the book please click on the link to Jessica Kingsley Publishers here: http://www.jkp.com

Guidance to support advocates in challenging decisions or actions with or on behalf of their advocacy partners

We are pleased to announce that new guidance for advocates will be published in July.

Advocates work with and on behalf of individuals to achieve good outcomes. Many issues may arise along the way and it can be challenging for an advocate to know which method to use when seeking resolution in an individual’s particular circumstances.

Advocates need to know what options are available and then use this knowledge to develop a ‘tool box’ of methods and know when to use them so that as situations arise they can feel confident about using the most suitable approach to achieve effective results. Skills such as negotiation and influencing are vital in problem solving and an important element in advocacy. Advocates may want to consider if their skills are up to date and effective.

This guidance covers informal ways of resolving issues such as discussion, meetings and mediation and then moves on to consider more formal ways such as formal complaint processes, judicial review and the Court of Protection.

This Guidance was commissioned by VoiceAbility. It has been written by Empowerment Matters, with legal advice and oversight provided by Irwin Mitchell LLP, and guidance and input from staff at VoiceAbility.

We will share the final version of the guidance in our next newsletter.

Jakki & Sue

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