#158 Power of Attorney Day with Alison Harvie

In this episode it is my pleasure to learn about the first ever national Power of Attorney Day from Alison Harvie, Power of Attorney Day campaign lead. It is a super discussion - listen in to hear about the brilliant resource available and how you can be involved.

Key messages

• Alison shares her personal story of supporting her father with advanced Alzheimer’s and the impact of Power of Attorney for them.

• We explore different types and names of powers of attorney across England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and why “Power of Attorney Day” is a UK–wide umbrella term covering all these legal frameworks.

• The resources for organisations include posters, slide deck with speaker notes, a toolkit, social media assets and prompts to review customer journeys.

• The resources for individuals include FAQs, myth–busting (especially around “next of kin”), a conversation starter guide, and lived–experience stories.

• We discuss the importance of normalising proactive Advance Care Planning rather than waiting for crisis or loss of capacity.

• Alison closes with a great call to arms: take small, practical first steps – any action that starts you on the path to putting a Power of Attorney in place.

Resource

• Access Power of ATtorney Day for resource and information

• Read the report Power of Attorney, why public engagement is so low and why that matters for background information

Bio

Alison Harvie, Power of Attorney Day campaign lead 

Alison is a charity communications expert with nearly 20 years’ experience working in the not-for-profit sector.  She has headed up the communications and marketing teams of several national charities, and is currently leading the first ever UK-wide Power of Attorney Day campaign for the charity Carers UK, in partnership with Standard Life. 

She is a carer for her father who has late-stage Alzheimer's and is passionate about helping families to put the right support in place at the right time, rather than at a time of crisis.