Having someone who speaks your language and understands your struggles can have life changing effects. At Latin American House (LAH), this is the order of the day, we support Latin Americans across London, as well as other Spanish and Portuguese speakers, offering the legal and social advice they need to thrive.
I joined LAH in 2024 as a volunteer on reception looking to put my Spanish degree to good use while trying to figure out what I wanted to do for work. At first it was scary speaking Spanish professionally, but it was an exciting challenge. What started as a way to fill my time, quickly became my passion. I learned by shadowing lawyers, translating technical terms I had never heard before, and supporting clients through complex processes. This experience inspired me to apply for a freelance adviser support role under Skilling Up for Justice: Workforce Pathways — a partnership project funded by Advice UK supporting advice network participation in workforce development. I am happy to share that this past August I was appointed as LAH’s new Bilingual Welfare Adviser (Spanish/English).
Shifting from a volunteer role to staff gave me a sense of belonging and a voice in decision-making. But it also revealed how much the advice sector relies on learning-by-doing and how little dedicated and paid training time there is because of funding instability. I still feel the need for specialist training on pensions, homelessness, and trauma-informed support — crucial issues for the people I see every day. Any adviser will tell you that training makes a huge difference. Even something simple like Excel training allowed me to work faster and gave me more confidence. It also helps advisers to make connections with other organisations, key when we get clients who require advice on areas outside our expertise.
I have seen first hand how advice work changes lives. I remember one older client who had lived in the UK since the 1970s but struggled to digitise his visa. He was so stressed because he couldn’t travel to see his family. We booked his biometric appointment, helped him through the process, and a week later he came back beaming. He even helped a friend with the same issue — a domino effect. It’s incredible what a small bit of support can do.
Advice services will always be essential. With sustained investment in recruitment, training and professional development, up-and-coming advisers like me can successfully establish themselves in the sector and help even more people build a secure future.
