In 2021 we made the case despite substantial opposition & were awarded via the Corra foundation funding to deliver what we believe was a desperately needed advocacy service. Our belief & need has been proved greater than we anticipated.
Without any real launch or advertising of the service we have seen a steady stream of referrals come in via word of mouth, many from the central belt of Scotland where we are based. As you can see from the report word about the service is starting to spread & we are cautions & apprehensive about the actual scale of the need that is currently out there.
We are starting to receive enquires about accessing this service in other parts of the UK also but are not currently in a position to do this because of funding restrictions. If you think this service is of value & know of anyone willing to help us source funding to help develop it, not just in Scotland please do not hesitate to get in touch.
This report & the work in it represents the very tip of the iceberg with regards to whistle blowing in the sector and its very existence is testament to the volunteers who helped us write the bid to get the funding to create the posts when we were told repeatedly that advocacy services already existed.
There are no specific advocacy service’s in the UK fighting for the rights of people seeking access to treatment & this service could easily be the start of a whole new desperately needed sector. The last 6 months has more than ever brought home very clearly the unending dedication & commitment of loved ones trying to get solutions to the pain & despair of watching their loved ones suffer. This report is dedicated to all of them.
Going Forward
We will of course create a final report at the 1 year year point generating the evidence for why the service needs to go forward & be developed.
If you can help in anyway before then please get in touch.
FAVOR UK CEO & the board of directors want to thank our staff Dougie & Alan who have developed the project & relationships with services with tremendous diplomacy & skill in the face of ingrained resistance & such terrible heartbreak from the families & individuals seeking our help. Their commitment and compassion is to be commended highly & we are very grateful for their ongoing highly skilled professional undertakings with this project.
An extremely powerful and at times deeply disturbing report of our failures as providers of services, both statutory and Third Sector, to challenge these injustices. As a Third Sector provider when we made a feeble attempt to challenge some of these practices some years ago, i was told “dont bite the hand that feeds you”.
I strongly welcome and support this service. I also hope that you will seek to provide “unannounced visits” to projects like our own to evaluate independently our provision and how we can improve. This would in my view dampen any fake narrative that only statutory services are being “demonized” and that we Third Sector dont also require a “critical friend” to assist us in listening to the voices of those in dangerous and difficult situations.
Our project would definitely welcome such an initiative and learn how we can create more effective service provision.
Donnie Thank you so much for this. I think having an independent inspector to rate/approve services is brilliant idea and who better to do that than people in recovery themselves. We have advocated for such a body since our inception. Hell we have even written up blueprints for what that would look like,but as always the “sector/industry doesn’t think its needed.
Yes there is room for improvement in all our practice that’s true but its only the statutory services that self police/govern. No one measure or evaluates the statutory services & there is absolutely no accountability. This is of course contrary to how they monitor & evaluate every single penny given out to the smaller 3rd sector orgs who have to justify within a hares breath their very existence often every 12 weeks.
A level playing field of inspection & accountability would give us the tools needed and rebuild trust & relationships.
Annemarie Ward
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry as this has so many resemblances to the nature of work we (Recovery Enterprises Scotland) provide and challenges we experience in East Ayrshire.
This report offers so much insight and learning that you’d think decision makers and budget holders would embrace yet sadly we know this is extremely unlikely. How can we achieve true change as the status quo remains despite us being in the midst of a national emergency with an unacceptable level of people with unmet needs being failed by broken systems and non-existent services? It would appear those shining a light are further demonised when in reality they are offering solutions to the change required within these frameworks we’ve had in place for far too long.
Well done to all the team and the difference you are making to peoples lives.