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There are many levels of advocacy.
One caregiver's perspective...

ADVOCACY
(Webster - act of pleading for, supporting or recommending)

Advocacy provides support and help to vulnerable people when there is a need to make important decisions about their lives. Effective advocacy is an empowerment and a support process, through which families or designated representatives can constructively work and contribute to the solving of a case or an issue which has disenfranchised someone.

In the case of family members who are informal caregivers, advocacy may be about people without power versus people with power. Sometimes, in asystem, there tends to be an over-focus on the negative side of things. The question of what's "right" may be overlooked.

ADVOCACY may be about challenging the status quo. Investigate. Is something unfair? When we advocate for someone, we hope to leave the situation in better shape than when we found it. Make sure you are focused in your shared concern.

Some information to consider when advocating for others:

• What is the potential matter that needs an advocate?
• What can we do?
• What does the person want done?
• Is this what needs to happen?

Collect some background information; do some research.

Remember: don't get off track. Ask and plan precise careful and simple questions. Go to front line staff before you speak to the top. Then progress up the line if need be. Never underestimate your own personal power as a family member, but don't prejudice yourself.

1. Never bite off more than you can manage.
2. Give the 'opposition' room to move. Ask "What can be resolved here?"
3. You can't move mountains. Think globally, but learn to act locally.
4. How you say something is most important.
5. Things are not always what they seem.

What we are after, when advocating, is a constructive outcome that can produce change without reprisal. Advocates should be impartial. As caregivers we are advocates for our loved ones.

Always remember: caregivers have personal experiences and knowledge that gives them the power to motivate others and create need for change. We need to move beyond the stereotype caregiver image. Make sure your needs as a family caregiver are being recognized and valued, not just addressed.

Margot Bertram
Interior Alzheimer Society
Kelowna, B.C.