At Dumfries and Galloway Advocacy Service, your interests are our priority. You’ll be assigned an advocate who is there solely for you, and is not part of any Care team or Case Management. Your advocate will only ever get involved with your consent and instruction with exception to non-instructed advocacy (see Dementia and Learning Disability sections)

The advocacy service we provide puts you and what you want to say, achieve, or contribute, at the centre. We believe every person is an individual with something to say. If you have communication difficulties our Person Centred approach helps you have a voice. We do not share information with any other person about you without your consent. You and you alone have access at all times to all the information we hold on you. Exceptions to this would be if we feel that you or another person is at serious risk of harm; if you give us information about a crime or planned crime it may be necessary to pass that information on; if it seems that a child or vulnerable person is being harmed or is at risk of harm, then Dumfries and Galloway Advocacy Service management will make a judgement as to how that information may be communicated to relevant others.

In addition to this, we are a registered charity and are commissioned by D&G Health & Social Care to provide our service free of charge. This means there is no charge to our clients for our service.

Mission Statement

To be a high quality, influential independent advocacy provider and model of good practice.

Vision

Ensure that all eligible clients have equitable access to our services.

Values

• Person centred
• Independent
• Empowering
• Ethical
• Listening
• Learning
• Respectful
• Empathic
• Caring

Principals and Standards

1. Our own mission, vision, and values
2. The principles, standards and best practice for independent advocacy
3. Agreements with funders and purchasers
4. Policies and procedures that apply to the delivery of our services
5. The Law
6. OSCR (Office for Scottish Charities Regulation) Registration
7. Suitable Organisational accreditation schemes