Personal Advisor for Care Leavers

Role of the Personal Adviser (PA and SW)

A Personal Advisor is an experienced support worker who is not a Social Worker. Personal Advisors have different backgrounds and qualifications, some of them in youth work, others in psychology. There is no one 'Personal Advisor' qualification. The Personal Advisor is there to offer you support, advice, guidance and assistance to you to develop your independence. Having diverse backgrounds means that as much as possible we can ensure that we match you to a Personal Advisor who can best meet your support needs.

You should see your Personal Advisor face to face a minimum of once every three months but you can speak to them on the phone more often than that. You can talk to your Personal Advisor about how often you'd like to see and speak to them. Once you reach 21 years of age you can decide if you'd like to remain supported by your Personal Advisor.

Your Personal Advisor can help you to access other support services which you might need. This may include mental health support, debt planning and budgeting, housing and accommodation, benefits and education. Personal Advisors may not be able to provide this support to your directly but they will help you to find someone who can. Personal Advisors can support you with simple budgeting, however, may refer for more specialised input if you are in debt and this is complex. Sometimes your Personal Advisor won't be able to provide you something that you are asking for.

Just like social workers, Personal Advisors will update your pathway plan with you every 6 months.