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Reconstruct 36 years with strapline

For general enquiries: info@reconstruct.co.uk or call (0)800 0209 858

For Children and Young People: yourvoice@reconstruct.co.uk or call (0)800 389 1571

Mental health advocacy

Independent Mental Health Advocacy

Your Voice in Mental Health Care

Independent advocacy ensures that individuals are supported to understand their rights, express their views, and take part in decisions that affect their lives. Reconstruct provides specialist Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy (IMCA) and Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA) services, offering impartial, confidential support to individuals, children, young people, and families when it matters most.

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Our advocates work alongside statutory and third-sector professionals to ensure that voices are heard, rights are upheld, and decisions are made lawfully, fairly, and in the individual’s best interests.

Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy (IMCA)

Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy supports children, young people, parents, and adults to engage positively with professionals where it is identified that they may lack capacity to make specific decisions under the Mental Capacity Act.

An Independent Mental Capacity Advocate (IMCA) is appointed to represent and support individuals who lack capacity to make certain decisions and who have no appropriate family member or friend to support them.

IMCA support will also be required when the Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS) framework is implemented, replacing the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS).

An IMCA can support you when:

  • Serious medical treatment is being proposed by an NHS body

  • Long-term accommodation is being considered (more than 28 days in hospital or more than 8 weeks in a care home)

  • There are applications for standard or urgent authorisation relating to a deprivation of liberty

  • There are safeguarding concerns, accommodation reviews, or allegations of abuse


What your IMCA can do:

  • Visit you in hospital, a care home, or another setting and speak with you privately

  • Gather relevant information, including health and care records

  • Consult with professionals involved in your care and, where appropriate, others who know you well
     

Support you to make decisions wherever possible, including:

  • Identifying your wishes, feelings, beliefs, and values

  • Explaining your options clearly

  • Supporting second medical opinions where appropriate
     

Ensure that:

  • The Mental Capacity Act Code of Practice is followed

  • Best-interest decisions are lawful and proportionate

  • Less restrictive options have been fully considered

  • Provide a written report setting out their findings and recommendations

Young person watching something with adult

Raising concerns or complaints
If an IMCA believes their recommendations have not been properly considered, or there is disagreement about what is in your best interests, they can:

  • Support you to make a complaint to the NHS body or local authority

  • Refer the matter to the Court of Protection where necessary


Who is eligible for IMCA?
You may be entitled to an IMCA if:

  • You are aged 16 or over

  • You lack capacity to make a specific decision

  • You have no appropriate family member or carer to represent your views

  • A local authority or NHS body is reviewing or planning decisions about your care, accommodation, or safeguarding

Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA)
 
Independent Mental Health Advocacy supports adults and young people with a mental health diagnosis who are, or have been, detained under the Mental Health Act 1983.
IMHAs may also be required for young people held in secure settings.

An Independent Mental Health Advocate (IMHA) is a specialist advocate with legal powers introduced under the 2007 amendments to the Mental Health Act.

Sad young person

IMHAs have legal rights to:

  • Meet qualifying patients in private

  • Consult with professionals involved in care and treatment

  • Access records relating to detention, treatment, and after-care (with consent, or where necessary if capacity is lacking)
     

IMHAs help people to understand:

  • Their rights under the Mental Health Act

  • The rights of others, including nearest relatives

  • The sections of the Act that apply to them

  • Any conditions, restrictions, or treatment plans

  • The legal basis for treatment and the safeguards in place
     

IMHAs also support individuals to exercise their rights, including self-advocacy, representation, and participation in decisions about their care and treatment.

Who is eligible for IMHA?
IMHA services in England are available to:

  • People detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 (excluding certain short-term sections)

  • Conditionally discharged restricted patients

  • Individuals subject to guardianship

  • Individuals on supervised community treatment orders (CTOs)

  • Informal patients being considered for treatments requiring consent and a second opinion (including under-18s being considered for ECT)

Interested in Independent Mental Health Advocacy? Get in touch!

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