Service Overview
Advocacy Bridge CIC is a not-for-profit, community-focused organisation providing consent-led, one-to-one advocacy, communication, and system navigation support for adults who may find it difficult to engage with services and systems independently.
We support adults who may benefit from additional structure, clarity, and advocacy support when navigating complex processes, communication challenges, workplace issues, or multi-agency environments.
Our role is practical, collaborative, and participation-focused:
- supporting individuals to engage more effectively with statutory, professional, and workplace systems
- helping ensure lived experiences, communication needs, and barriers are clearly understood and appropriately represented
- supporting individuals to understand options, prepare for engagement, and participate more confidently in decision-making and processes
We often support adults affected by executive functioning difficulties, communication barriers, late-identified neurodivergence, burnout, or periods of overwhelm, particularly where standard systems or processes may feel inaccessible.
Advocacy Bridge works alongside existing services and within agreed scope, structure, boundaries, and capacity.
As a Community Interest Company, all activity is for public benefit. Any surplus is reinvested into clearer pathways, practical tools, and accessible guidance designed to improve engagement, accessibility, and participation.
Why Our Approach Works
Many adults experience difficulties engaging with services and systems — not because support is unavailable, but because systems often rely on fast-paced communication, executive functioning, organisation, and sustained processing capacity.
Appointments, forms, decision-making, and ongoing communication can become difficult to manage when someone is overwhelmed, cognitively fatigued, navigating burnout, or experiencing communication and executive functioning difficulties.
Without appropriate structure or accessibility support, engagement can reduce over time, leading to missed communication, incomplete processes, or difficulties participating effectively within systems.
Advocacy Bridge exists to support clearer communication, improved accessibility, and more sustainable engagement across services, workplaces, and professional environments.
Our Approach
Our work is structured, collaborative, and consent-led.
We support individuals by:
- helping clarify priorities and next steps
- breaking down complex information into manageable stages
- supporting communication and participation
- improving understanding of systems and processes
- supporting preparation for meetings, appointments, and key conversations
- identifying barriers, accessibility needs, and adjustments where appropriate
Our role is not to replace statutory, clinical, or therapeutic services, but to support more effective engagement with them.
What This Makes Possible
By working at a pace that recognises communication, processing, and capacity needs, we support more accessible and sustainable participation over time.
Our aim is to help individuals engage more confidently, communicate more clearly, and navigate systems with greater understanding, structure, and support.
How Support Works
Advocacy Bridge provides structured advocacy, communication, and system navigation support designed to help individuals engage more effectively with services, systems, workplaces, and professional environments.
Support is provided within agreed scope, boundaries, structure, and capacity. Our approach is consent-led, paced, and focused on improving accessibility, communication, participation, and confidence over time.
What Advocacy Bridge Does Not Provide
Advocacy Bridge is not a crisis, emergency, legal, medical, or clinical service and does not provide regulated therapy or statutory advocacy.
Where appropriate, we may help individuals identify relevant services, professionals, or support pathways that may better meet specific needs.
If urgent safeguarding, medical, mental health, or crisis support is required, please contact your GP, NHS 111, emergency services, or the relevant statutory or crisis support team.
Funding & Access Options
Advocacy Bridge support may be accessed through a range of funding arrangements depending on individual circumstances, suitability, and availability.
This may include:
- Self-funded support — private payment by individuals, families, or supporters
- Direct Payments or Personal Budgets — where agreed through social care or support arrangements
- Employer or workplace-funded support — including some Access to Work-related support arrangements
- Professional or organisational commissioning — limited commissioned or partnership-based support
- Charitable or grant-funded support — where funding availability and eligibility criteria allow
Funding arrangements are discussed individually and remain subject to scope, capacity, suitability, and agreement.
Need to Self-Refer?
You don’t need a professional referral — you can contact us directly.
You’re welcome to self-refer using the button below. The form is designed to be simple and low-pressure — you only need to share what feels comfortable. From there, we’ll explore support options together at a pace that feels manageable.
Why Professionals Refer To Advocacy Bridge
Professionals often refer to Advocacy Bridge when an individual may benefit from additional communication, organisation, advocacy, or engagement support that complements existing services and improves accessibility, participation, and follow-through.
We Commonly Receive Enquiries From
- employers and HR teams
- Access to Work professionals
- healthcare professionals
- education providers
- neurodiversity practitioners
- social prescribers and support organisations
- community and third-sector organisations
- individuals seeking structured advocacy support
Bridging The Gap.
Areas We Commonly Support
- workplace and Access to Work support
- communication and appointment preparation
- executive functioning and organisational support
- advocacy and self-advocacy support
- navigating complex systems and processes
- participation and engagement support
- communication between individuals and services
- structured follow-through and planning support
Who We Support
Referrers typically contact us when an adult may benefit from additional advocacy, communication, organisation, or system navigation support.
This may include individuals who:
- experience communication, executive functioning, or processing difficulties
- find systems, appointments, forms, or ongoing processes difficult to manage independently
- benefit from additional structure, preparation, or follow-through support
- experience difficulties engaging consistently with workplaces, services, or professional environments
- are navigating complex processes, transitions, or multi-agency involvement
- would benefit from clearer communication, accessibility support, or structured advocacy
We often support autistic, ADHD, and otherwise neurodivergent adults, including those who are late-identified or who experience overwhelm, burnout, communication barriers, or reduced capacity during periods of increased demand or stress.
Our work sits alongside existing services and may complement statutory, therapeutic, workplace, or support provision by helping individuals engage more effectively with systems and processes.
Many of the adults we support are intelligent, capable, and highly self-aware, but may find it difficult to process information, prioritise tasks, sustain engagement, or navigate complex communication demands without additional support.
Advocacy Bridge Does Not Provide
- crisis intervention
- emergency safeguarding support
- legal representation
- regulated therapy or counselling
- statutory advocacy under the Care Act or Mental Health Act
- medical advice
- 24/7 support or case management
What Referrers Can Expect
Collaborative Working
We work alongside referrers and existing services, maintaining clear communication, respecting professional roles, and avoiding duplication.
Consent-Led Advocacy & Communication Support
We support individuals to understand options, communicate needs more effectively, and strengthen self-advocacy and participation over time.
Structured & Processing-Aware Support
We provide paced, structured support that recognises communication, executive functioning, and processing needs.
Purpose-Led Involvement
Our involvement is focused, goal-oriented, and designed to support increasing confidence, accessibility, and sustainable engagement where possible.
Barrier-Aware Approach
We help identify practical, communication, and accessibility barriers that may affect engagement, participation, or follow-through.
Collaborative Feedback
Where appropriate and agreed, we may share observations or recommendations that support clearer communication and more accessible engagement pathways.
Our role is to support clearer communication, improved accessibility, and more sustainable participation across systems, services, workplaces, and professional environments.
How We Complement Existing Services
We work alongside existing services, supporting individuals to engage more effectively with systems, communication, appointments, and agreed processes.
Our involvement can help to improve:
- communication and participation
- appointment preparation and follow-through
- understanding of processes and next steps
- accessibility and engagement across systems
- continuity of communication between individuals and services, where appropriate
We provide structured, consent-led support that can complement statutory, workplace, healthcare, educational, or therapeutic services by helping individuals navigate complex systems with greater clarity, organisation, and confidence.
Our role is not to replace any existing service, but to support more accessible, sustainable, and effective engagement with them.
We work within agreed scope, structure, boundaries, and capacity, with a focus on strengthening self-advocacy, participation, and understanding over time.
How to Refer Someone
We welcome enquiries from professionals, services, employers, education providers, healthcare teams, community organisations, and individuals seeking structured advocacy, communication, or system navigation support.
1. Confirm Consent
Please ensure the individual:
- understands the role of Advocacy Bridge
- is happy to be referred
- consents to their contact details and relevant information being shared
We do not proceed without informed consent unless statutory safeguarding responsibilities apply.
2. Make an Enquiry
If you would like to discuss whether Advocacy Bridge may be appropriate for an individual, workplace, or professional context, please complete the enquiry form or contact us directly.
All enquiries are reviewed based on suitability, scope, and current capacity.
Complete our enquiry form or contact us by email with:
- basic contact information
- a brief outline of the current situation
- any relevant communication or accessibility needs
- and any details of any support/services currently in place
All enquiries are reviewed to help determine suitability, scope, and capacity.
Where appropriate, we will then contact the individual directly to discuss next steps.
Advocacy Bridge is not a crisis, emergency, safeguarding, legal, or case management service. We work within agreed scope, structure, boundaries, and capacity, with a focus on improving communication, accessibility, engagement, and participation over time.
Areas covered
- UK-wide remote support
- South Yorkshire based
- remote and online support available
- in-person by agreement
How Advocacy Bridge Came to Exist
Advocacy Bridge CIC was created through lived experience, community insight, and recognition of the practical barriers many adults face when navigating complex systems.
For many people, support can be difficult to access, understand, coordinate, or sustain — particularly where communication, executive functioning, processing, health, neurodivergence, or life pressures affect a person’s ability to engage consistently with services and systems.
Through both personal experience and wider community conversations, recurring patterns became clear:
-
- people unsure where to begin
- difficulties understanding systems and processes
- communication barriers during appointments or assessments
- challenges organising information or following through under pressure
- difficulty articulating needs clearly within professional environments
- services and systems that often assume consistent processing speed, communication capacity, executive functioning, and sustained engagement
Many individuals appeared capable externally, whilst privately struggling to manage increasing complexity, responsibilities, communication demands, or system navigation independently.
Advocacy Bridge CIC grew out of the recognition of the need for structured, accessible, and consent-led support that helps individuals engage safely and more effectively with services, workplaces, and professional systems.
The service formalises an approach shaped through lived experience and real-world advocacy support, now delivered within clear structure, boundaries, ethics, and scope.
Our focus is on improving communication, accessibility, understanding, participation, and self-advocacy — helping people navigate systems with greater clarity, confidence, and sustainable support over time.
As a Community Interest Company, our work is rooted in public benefit, accessibility, and the creation of more inclusive pathways for neurodivergent and otherwise underserved adults.
“Michelle brings clarity, compassion, and gentle accountability — both for the people she supports and the professionals working around them.
She asks thoughtful questions and keeps the person at the centre of conversations and decisions
“Michelle acts as a bridge between intention and delivery.
Where services can sometimes miss the mark, she helps ensure no one gets left behind.
“Michelle has a way of meeting people where they are without judgement.
She helps individuals feel safe enough to engage again, which makes a real difference to how they show up in our services.”
“Advocacy Bridge fills a gap we often see but don’t always have capacity to address.
Her support helps people stay engaged rather than dropping out when things feel overwhelming.”
“Michelle brings a steady, grounding presence.
People relax when she’s involved because they know they won’t be pushed or judged.”
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Get in Touch. Get Involved.
The Advocacy Bridge CIC is built on connection and collaboration. If you’d like to refer someone, partner with us, volunteer, or support our mission, we’d love to hear from you.
Matrix@Dinnington Business Centre, Nobel Way, Dinnington, Sheffield S25 3QB
📞 01709 262005
Contact me: hello@michelleshaw.co.uk 01709 262005
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