North East Essex Advocacy Service (NEEAS) Please Note: Since the opening of our new service on 18th October we have be overwhelmed with applications for advocacy support. We appreciate the demand for our service and want to support you to the best of our ability. Due to this we currently have a waiting list and aim to contact you within 5 days of your application. Please do bear with us during this time and be assured we will contact you as soon as we can. Autism Anglia’s North East Essex Advocacy Service offers independent, impartial and confidential advice and support to families, carers, autistic children, and young people, age 0 -25 years, in Colchester and Tendring. This includes help to navigate both the clinical aspect of their care and non-clinical services such as general or individual advice about their condition and educational, social and financial support. We aim to enhance the life choices for the autistic and wider community in North East Essex through advocating on issues in the following areas: Education Diagnosis Welfare Rights Housing Health Social Care Our Advocates will be supporting the needs and exercising the rights of individuals and families. Meet the team Our support is bespoke and tailored around need of the individual. We will aim to reduce the stigma and inequalities autistic people face and ensure your needs are met. Eligibility The Advocacy Service can help children and young people age 0-25 and their families within North East Essex pre or post diagnosis of autism, who require information, advocacy, support and guidance to navigate appropriate services. There will not need to be a formal diagnosis of autism in place in order to access the service. Individuals, parents, professionals including Care Co-ordinators, Social Workers, Schools and Health Professionals from the North East Essex area are able to refer a child or young person into the Advocacy Service via the referral form below. The North East Essex Advocacy Service has been funded by North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to improve the quality of life and social integration of children and young people with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD). APPLY FOR ADVOCACY SUPPORT Alternatively please call 01206 577678 or email [email protected] For those that do not meet the criteria above to access Advocacy support. Please note that we do hope to increase this service both geographically and by age range in the future. In the meantime please visit our Useful Services page to find out about other support services in East Anglia. If you live in East Anglia but do not meet the criteria for Advocacy Support we can still support you with Welfare Rights Advice. CLICK HERE for more information. To stay up to date with our latest news and activities please visit our Autism Anglia's Advocacy (Education, Welfare Rights, Health & Social Care) Facebook page. If you have knowledge and skills in the areas that the Advocacy Service is providing, please do consider volunteering for us for a couple of hours a week. CLICK HERE for more information. Feedback: I just want to take a moment to send thanks and love to Kim. She picked me up when I had nowhere else to turn and had lost faith in myself and the system. Kim gave me back my fight and my confidence and never stopped believing. After applying for ourselves for the EHCP and being turned down, we had pretty much given up. I spoke to Kim and she listened to our story. Kim filed for a tribunal for an assessment, and they rolled over last night and have now said they will go ahead. Thank you Kim, thank you from us all. Now the next stage to go through, but with Kim’s help we can achieve anything. Kim is my sons guardian angel. She has got him sorted after I had been fighting for years and he was so defeated with the schooling system. I firmly believe he wouldn't be alive now if not for her because he is finally somewhere that is helping him. Kim is helping us with my sons EHCP. Such a lovely lady so glad and lucky to have her