Your Advocacy Rights

An advocate is a person who will listen to you, help you make decisions about what should happen in your life and then speak, on your behalf, to arrange for those decisions to be implemented. An advocate will ensure that your rights are respected and speak out for you if your needs are not met.

You can ask anyone that you know well and trust to be your advocate, such as a:

● member of your family or a friend

● a person from a legal advocacy service.

iSeekSupport can help you find an advocate by providing a list of available advocacy services. Once you have selected an advocate, the Practice Manager will provide you with a form that must be completed called the Authority to Act as an Advocate Form.

With your permission, iSeekSupport will:

● provide your advocate with all the information they need to ensure that we (and any other service providers) are acting in your best interest

● work closely with your advocate and involve them in the planning of services that will be provided to you

● ensure our Support Workers understand the role of your advocate.

iSeekSupport will ensure that your advocate is invited to attend:

● consultation meetings

● person-centred planning meetings and reviews

● any other relevant meetings or conferences.

You can use your advocate:

● any time you wish to communicate with us

● during your initial assessment consultation

● during your interviews and reviews

● during service delivery

● when you want to make a complaint

● when you want to give feedback.

We encourage you to bring your advocate to your initial assessment meeting to hear your voice during the planning process, guiding and developing your person-centred support plan. Your advocate is welcome to attend any meeting and speak on your behalf.

iSeekSupport will provide your advocate with the opportunity to discuss problems or concerns they may have. Failure to adequately address your advocate's concerns will lead to our team informing them of our complaint process and providing the governing agencies' contact details who have the responsibility to ensure we perform our job correctly.

You can change your advocate at any time. If you change your advocate, please inform us as soon as possible to update your information and ensure that we talk to the correct person.