We have our new name after many months of consultation with all our stakeholders. The response to Advocacy Plus has been – ‘Fantastic! What took you so long?’

Our new logo is well underway. Carol Enright, who has designed logos for several charities, was courageous enough to submit three possible designs to the scrutiny of over 20 of our staff, trustees and volunteers on Thursday 3^rd December, when we all met for Christmas drinks.

Many observations, both positive and negative, were consigned to post-it notes for Carol to collect and digest before returning with the next stage of our logo design.

With over 20 people to please, all of whom feel very strongly about the public face of Advocacy Plus, Carol’s design skills will seriously be put to the test. We are nevertheless confident she will come through for Advocacy Plus

It is with sadness we say farewell, after 7 years, to Gona Saed. Gona’s pioneering BME outreach work for WASSR has contributed to a dramatic change in our client profile.

When Gona joined us, 5% of our clients came from Westminster’s black and minority ethnic communities. They now number 40% of the total, representing more accurately the diversity of the City’s population.

Gona continued her BME outreach work with our Dementia Advocacy Network, raising awareness nationally of dementia among the UK’s black and minority ethnic community groups and working with DAN’s members to make dementia advocacy accessible to BME elders.

The resulting EMDAP report, funded by the Department of Health, was launched at DAN’s national conference in June 2009.

In the New Year Gona will begin her new job with Women & Girls’ Network as a Refugee Development Worker. 

We wish Gona every success in her new role and thank her for her valuable contribution to strengthening WASSR’s reputation for diversity and equality in our work.

Alex Welch was welcomed at our office on 17^th November. She already has several cases underway and is thoroughly enjoying the challenges of being an advocate. She is very appreciative of the support she is receiving from her supervisor and finds her casework extremely interesting.

Alex, who is in her first year of a master’s degree in social work at South Bank University, is no stranger to voluntary work. At the age of 15 she was arranging activities, on and off-site, for a Solihull youth centre.

At 18 Alex started part-time paid work as a care worker in a residential home for adults with learning disabilities, then later as a sole carer, supporting adults with learning disabilities in the community.

On graduating from Nottingham University with a degree in Philosophy, Alex became a team leader in a residential care home for 11 to 16 year olds.

It took Alex a little time to decide social work is definitely for her. Now she is absolutely sure she was made for it.

A highlight of the project was a success story about the effects of loss of power for Derrick, who was living in a care home having been assessed as being without capacity and unable to care for himself brought on by alcohol abuse. A volunteer advocate successfully had his capacity reassessed and supported him to move back into the community. Derrick attended the conference and we viewed a powerful DVD of his story.

Welcome to Ashika Patel who joined our volunteer advocates’ team in October. Ashika brings extensive experience of working with older people to her work as an advocate, having been a Locum Care Manager for the Older Persons Mental Health Team in Camden.

She previously worked for the Central and North West London Mental Health Trust and for the boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea and Hounslow as a social worker.

We are delighted to welcome Jaspreet Mann to our team of volunteer advocates. Jaspreet has been volunteering for us since July, providing invaluable administrative support in the office.

Without Jaspreet, we would have struggled to submit our portfolio of work for the advocacy Quality Performance Mark, for which she received compliments from the assessors on her thoroughness and quality of presentation.

Jaspreet is currently studying at the College of Law in Bloomsbury and welcomes the opportunity to gain valuable experience in detailed case work and face to face client contact. As with our previous law student volunteers, Jaspreet knows her pro bono work for our organisation will stand her in very good stead when applying for paid employment at the end of her studies.

In partnership with Age Concern Westminster, we have secured a 3 year contract from the joint commissioners of Westminster City Council and NHS Westminster.

We will deliver a new piece of work, involving older volunteers, who will use focus groups, questionnaires and telephone interviews to seek feedback from older users of Westminster’s health and social care services. We will document their views on what services they need and how those services can be better delivered by NHS Westminster and Westminster City Council.

This work is integral to Westminster’s new personalised approach to providing care services for older people, in line with national government guidelines and is a development of the work of the HOPE project, undertaken in 2007.

Age Concern Kensington and Chelsea have launched an innovative project to create social opportunities and support for older people with dementia and their family, friends and carers.

The project aims to raise awareness amongst older people of memory loss, dementia and preventive measures.

Age Concern Kensington and Chelsea provides group based support for people with dementia and their friends and families at a My Memories Café which runs in two venues in Kensington and Chelsea. Additionally there will be workshops on memory loss and dementia as well as group outings.

Do get in touch with Angela at Age Concern Kensington and Chelsea on 020 8969 9105 for further information on any of

these events.

The My Memories Café meets monthly:

Friday 29th January- Pamper session

Friday 26th February- Valentine theme

Friday 26th March- Games day

2- 4pm at

New Horizons Centre,

Cadogan Street,

SW3 2PF Cost: £1.50 - For tea and cake

Friday 18^th December 10.00am

School Carol Service

Sunday 20^th December 7.00pm

Nine Lessons and Carols

Thursday 24^th December 5.00pm

Christingle Service

Thursday 24^th December 11.30pm

Midnight Mass

Friday 25^th December 10.00am

Christmas Day Morning Service