SHEP Advocacy Project (Previously known as the Cork Advocacy Service).

Our primary focus is on Independent Group Advocacy Facilitation in residential and community settings that serve adults with disabilities including older people in nursing homes and people using mental health services.

This is an area of independent advocacy that has been largely neglected as one to one advocacy support has become more professionalised over the past ten years. We will also continue to support advocacy networks and facilitate advocacy trainings.

This change (from a focus on one to one advocacy support to group advocacy facilitation) reinforces SHEP’s community development ethos and builds capacity for change through experiential learning and participatory group work.

We are currently working on the development and co-facilitation of courses and workshops that focus on all elements of advocacy e.g. self, peer, group and representative advocacy.

We are involved in particular advocacy activities that link us with other individuals, groups and organisations that have a commitment to social justice and human rights e.g. The ‘Our Rights and Medication’ Advocacy Network, the Independent Advocacy Gathering.

As part of our training programme we offer:

  • The ‘Introduction to Advocacy Course’ aimed at people who would like to develop their advocacy skills. This course is SHEP certified.
  • Self-Advocacy Courses
  • Bespoke self-advocacy training and workshops, which we tailor to specific group requests.

For further information please contact: Marge Lysaght, Advocacy Co-ordinator on (021) 4666180 or email marge.lysaght@socialandhealth.com or Niamh Kelleher, Advocacy Co-ordinator on 021 4666180 or email niamh.kelleher@socialandhealth.com

SHEP Advocacy Report on Decongregation (2025)

The SHEP Advocacy Report on Decongregation (2025) – below – documents seven years of independent advocacy by the SHEP Independent Advocacy Service (SIAS) supporting a group of women through the closure of a long-term institutional residence in Cork. Following a 2016 HIQA finding of serious non-compliance and financial irregularities, SIAS worked alongside the women to ensure their voices, rights, and choices were central to the decongregation process. Advocates built trust and addressed systemic issues including financial abuse, poor living conditions, and systemic challenges. The women developed a Charter of Rights and were empowered to self-advocate during their transition to community living, completed in December 2023. The report highlights the vital role of independent, adequately funded, advocacy plays in safeguarding rights and influencing cultural change.

SHEP Advocacy Report on Decongregation (2025)

History of Advocacy

SHEP has been involved in advocacy since the year 2000 and was to the forefront in the development of advocacy for older people through a project called Cork Older Peoples Advocacy Service. A defining feature of SHEP’s model of advocacy has been pioneering the training and deployment of advocates in both volunteer and contracted capacities from the context and experience of active involvement in this work.

We participated very successfully in the pilot Advocacy Project for People with Disabilities which was funded by the Citizen Information Board (CIB). This allowed SHEP to offer a high level of representative advocacy through a full-time professional advocate between 2008 and 2010

Since 2010 SHEP Advocates have been deployed to support people facing the challenges of de-congregation (the closing of larger institutions and the shift to supported living in the community). SHEP has also deployed advocates to provide advocacy for older people in residential settings consisting of regular visits to Nursing Homes providing them with group and individual advocacy.

Our intention in 2021 is to:

extend our work in facilitating independent advocacy groups in settings for adults with disabilities and

develop training opportunities in advocacy to include, self, peer, group and representative advocacy.

Currently the SHEP Advocacy Project consists of a small team of advocates who have completed the SHEP Introduction to Advocacy course. Consideration is also given to prior learning and experience where people are interested in this work and who have not yet completed the SHEP Introduction to Advocacy course.

The work can include:

  • Involvement in particular advocacy activities e.g. The Our Rights and Medication Advocacy Group, the Independent Advocacy Gathering.
  • Independent Group Advocacy Facilitation in residential and community settings that serve adults with disabilities including older people in nursing homes and people using mental health services.
  • The development and co-facilitation of courses and workshops that focus on all elements of advocacy e.g. self, peer, group and representative advocacy.
  • Attending SHEP Advocacy Project team meetings where we meet regularly to share learning and develop the work of the project.
  • Helping out with the administrative tasks of the Advocacy Project
  • Some one to one independent advocacy support may also be provided to disabled people who are struggling to get their voice heard and the rights respected with signposting to other independent advocacy services where necessary.

To support the Advocacy team SHEP provides supervision, garda clearance, and on-going support and guidance from SHEP’s Advocacy Co-ordinator.[/fusion_tab]

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