Advocacy – Aims

  1. Sharing information, knowledge and resources
  2. Building trust between organisations so that we can eventually cross-refer service users within the network
  3. Access legal resources collectively
  4. Share policies and training
  5. Review cases together, as a way to empower individual advocates and provide a ‘seamless’ service that draws on our collective experience and knowledge
  6. Able to provide Specialist advocacy (e.g. for BME communities)
  7. Able to provide Citizen advocacy
  8. Able to provide Collective advocacy
  9. Establish a support group for Manchester Advocacy workers
  10. Providing fully trained staff with access to continuous professional development
  11. Host a bi-annual conference, where we share good practice, showcase our services and propose ways in which mental health services in Manchester could be improved (based on our experiences of delivering advocacy services here).
  12. Put together a Manchester Directory of advocacy services
  13. Prepare a set of quality standards that all organisations in the network/partnership are signed up to and working towards achieving.
  14. Providing integrated community advocacy
  15. Identifying training needs of the organisations in the partnership
  16. Supporting and lobbying for continuity of funding for independent advocacy, and arguing for minimum 3 year contracts.
  17. Organisations involved in the partnership referring individual cases to other organisations involved in the partnership.