Have you ever
felt it would be useful to have someone alongside you, on your side,
when you have consulted a professional or sought a service? Most of us
have felt this at some time or other.
People who have experienced mental health difficulties commonly feel
this way when they turn to doctors, nurses, social workers or other
community care professionals for help. They feel disadvantaged because
the system of help can often seem too complex, too remote, too
overburdened to deal with their needs.
Volunteers provide advocacy support to
mental health service users either for a particular problem or for
long-term advocacy support.
Advocacy work may include accompanying a service user to an
appointment, helping to fill out forms or find out information about
rights and benefits. The work is varied and interesting.
In many cases what‘s involved is just being there on the
service user’s side, helping them to get their views heard
and their rights respected.
Your contribution is part of a two way
process that can bring you worthwhile experience and opportunities for
personal development.
All new
volunteers complete our Stage 1 Training for Volunteer Advocacy Workers
which fully prepares them for their role.
AdvoCard also offers ongoing training opportunities to help volunteers
continue to develop and enhance their skills for advocacy work. Please
see the training pages for more details.
The amount
time each person can commit to their volunteering varies from
individual to individual. It can be as varied as 5 hours per week or 4
hours per month. Volunteers do need to have some availability during
office hours, Monday to Friday.
You are welcome at AdvoCard regardless
of race, gender, religious belief or sexual orientation. We positively
encourage mental health service users to contact us.
All out of pocket expenses will be
reimbursed.
An Enhanced Disclosure and 2 references will be required after training
has been completed.
We run three or four social events for volunteers every year, including our Volunteers Meal, held for the last few years in the Royal Overseas League, Princes Street. These events give us a chance to say thank you to all our volunteers for their hard work, as well as giving them an opportunity to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. Visit our social events page.
The work of Volunteer Advocacy Workers is guided and governed by AdvoCard's Policies and Procedures Manual for Volunteer Advocacy Workers.
