Everyone has the right to get support from another person to help express their views and wishes (for example, at a healthcare appointment). This person is called an advocate.
Advocates can be helpful if you:
An independent advocate can:
People who are covered by the Mental health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act – who have a mental health issue, learning disability, autism or dementia – have a legal right to independent advocacy.
The role of the advocate is not restricted to mental health situations.
The Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance offers independent advocacy support to any vulnerable person. The website includes a list of independent advocacy organisations across Scotland. Call 0131 510 9410. You can also email enquiry@siaa.org.uk.
If you have a disability, you can get free advocacy help to apply for benefits in Scotland. Call Social Security Scotland on 0800 182 2222. Ask them to refer you to their independent advocacy service.
The service helps disabled people to:
Carers UK offer a self-advocacy toolkit for carers, which gives advice on making your voice heard if you care for someone else. You can call Carers UK on 0141 445 3070 or email them at info@carersuk.org.
If you live in Northern Ireland the following organisations may be able to help you.
If you have suggestions for updates to this list, please email: communications@ilf.scot
Please note the organisations listed in this article are provided for information only. Their inclusion does not represent an endorsement of particular organisations by ILF Scotland.
Part of the article above was previously published on the Mygov.scot website. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
