Projects & Partnerships 21 March 2024
Pan-London Advice First Aid Training
Our partners at Citizens Advice Wandsworth lead the London-wide training and capacity building work with community organisations, as part of the Cost of Living Crisis Prevention Project.
On this page
- Advice First Aid Training Programme
- Who is Advice First Aid training for?
- What people say about Advice First Aid
- Benefits of the Advice First Aid programme for Local Citizens Advice
Advice First Aid training is a community empowerment project organised by London Citizens Advice and funded by the Greater London Authority as part of a cost of living crisis prevention project.
Citizens Advice Wandsworth delivers the Advice First Aid training programme across London in partnership with local Citizens Advice organisations.
Through Advice First Aid training we share knowledge and skills to increase the ability of community and faith groups to help people in hardship. Advice First Aid training is part of our commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.
At Citizens Advice we know that people in need of advice may not know about us or feel confident in accessing our service. We know that we can never meet the demand for our services and that we don’t have all the solutions; co-production is best.
For more information about delivering or attending Advice First Aid training, please contact londonafa@cawandsworth.org
Advice First Aid Training Programme
Advice First Aid training aims to support people in non-advice roles to:
- Gather information and spot advice issues
- Use online tools and information resources
- Provide information and signposting
- Know when and how to refer for advice
- Find relevant local and national services
- Meet other local organisations and share information
Topics include benefits, debt, housing, cost of living help and immigration signposting.
The training programme starts with a one-day Introduction to Advice First Aid course, followed by a half-day Advice First Aid Update course. Advice First Aiders can also access online bitesize training sessions throughout the year.
Who is Advice First Aid training for?
The training is for grassroots community groups and faith groups. We aim to reach groups who may not know much about Citizens Advice, who are trusted in their local communities and who have little or no money for training.
What people say about Advice First Aid
“Advice First Aid expanded my knowledge and made me more confident in helping people”
“I learnt where to find a lot of useful information”
“It was great to meet people from other organisations and from Citizens Advice”
Benefits of the Advice First Aid programme for Local Citizens Advice
Local Citizens Advice organisations have told us about the benefits of Advice First Aid to their communities:
- Building networks with community partners and increasing capacity to support local people
- Increasing understanding of your services (and service limitations)
- Helping community partners identify when to refer to Citizens Advice and when to refer elsewhere
- Enabling community partners to share information from the Citizens Advice website about issues facing their visitors
- Sharing information about local sources of information and advice
- Put commitments to equity, diversity and inclusion into practice
- Demonstrating capacity building work in your community
For more information about delivering or attending Advice First Aid training, please contact londonafa@cawandsworth.org
Local Citizens Advice can access training materials at the staff site - Advice First Aid.