What We Do

What we do

We are a small, independent advocacy service that works with individuals who are detained under the Mental Health (Care and Treatment)(Scotland) Act 2003, in The State Hospital. Our main role is to provide support to individuals to make sure their voice is heard by attending case reviews, mental health tribunals and parole boards.

Outside of this, we also support patients in all aspects of what they feel is important to them. This could be contacting a solicitor, putting in a complaint or finding out information for them.

We work within The State Hospital but are a non-profit organisation registered with OSCR and Companies House. We also hold membership to the Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance and the Scottish Councils for Voluntary Organisations.

Independent Advocacy

Independent advocates fight for the right to make sure individuals have a voice. This is especially important in groups who are marginalised or vulnerable such as those with major mental illness. Independent advocates help people to get the information they need to make an informed choice and to make sure this choice is heard. They are important for making sure there is a balance of power and an individual has their voice heard. This could be by being there for them, to champion what they say, or speaking up for them if they are unable to do so for themselves. We are there to support our individuals to be able to express their thoughts, even if these differ to those making decisions about their care and are not influenced by the decision makers. We aim to support an individual to have the courage and confidence to be able to self-advocate.

There are three principles of independent advocacy the Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance (SIAA) say all independent advocacy services should do.

1.  Independent advocacy is loyal to the people it supports and stands by their views and wishes.
2. Independent advocacy ensures people’s voices are listened to and their views are taken into account.
3. Independent advocacy stands up to injustice, discrimination and disempowerment.

If you would like to find out more about independent advocacy, the SIAA is an excellent resource. You can find their website here.

Behind the Scenes

Our primary aim to support the individuals detained in The State Hospital. We also take part in groups where it is important for an independent source to represent the voice of individuals. Some of these groups are in the hospital but we also take part in groups outside of the hospital where it is important to ensure the voice of those detained is represented. Some of these groups are ongoing such as with the Mental Health Tribunal Scotland and some are short life working groups with the Forensic Network or Scottish Government.

We also make sure we take part in consultations that are relevant to the hospital population such as Human Rights legislation updates, the Independent Forensic Mental Health Review or the Scottish Mental Health Law Review. We make sure to look at these consultations and submit an opinion. Sometimes we are then invited to take part in groups to discuss what will happen after these consultations are finished. As part of these consultations, we also take part in the Scottish Independent Advocacy (SIAA) roundtable discussions where we can discuss the issues with other advocacy services and help the SIAA with their responses to these consultations.

The SIAA is important to the Patients’ Advocacy Service (PAS). They help to provide training and support on matters relating to independent advocacy. As we are an independent service working in the hospital, being a part of the SIAA we are able to meet with other advocacy services across Scotland to get support, idea’s and share resources on issues we might be facing.

Another part of our work is reporting what we do to The State Hospital. We have to submit quarterly reports to provide evidence we are doing what we say we will do. In addition, we also provide a 12 monthly update report and do a presentation at The State Hospitals board meeting every year.

We also have an annual report we produce as we are a charity, this is explained and available at our annual general meeting. You can find copies of our reports here. We are always looking at ways we can show the impact of the work we do and how this is a beneficial service for individuals in The State Hospital.