Drug and Alcohol Collective Advocacy (East Lothian)
This page is about Collective Advocacy for people who need help to have their voice heard because of drugs or alcohol use. If you use drugs or alcohol it may sometimes feel difficult to get your voice heard. It might seem that drug and alcohol services don’t listen enough to the views of the people who use them.
If you use drugs or alcohol and you’d like to:
- Have your say about information and services for people who use drugs or alcohol
- Try to make changes in the way you are treated or the services that you receive
Then get in touch and get involved in this Collective Advocacy project!
Currently, this service is available to residents of East Lothian ONLY. The service is for people who are aged between 18 and 65 in this area.
What is Collective Advocacy?
Collective Advocacy brings people with similar experiences together. It creates a safe space for them to support each other to explore shared issues and to have a voice. Collective Advocacy can enable people to campaign for change by speaking up and influencing the services that they use or have used.
The group decides what it wants to work on and has a CAPS staff member to try to enable/facilitate its decisions. Collectively the group can look at any areas of their lives or issues that affect them or others with similar experiences to them. The Scottish Government’s MAT (Medically Assisted Treatment) standards set out the right to Independent Advocacy for people who are being treated for their drug or alcohol use. Housing, health and income are the advocacy areas identified in the standards, but the group can work on whatever they feel is important. You do not need to have had or be having treatment in order to join the group.
CAPS also has an Individual Advocacy service for people who need help to have their voice heard because of drug or alcohol use. Individual Advocacy is one-to-one. An advocacy worker will support you to speak up about your views, for example in meetings about treatment or other current issues in your life.
Independent Advocacy is free of charge. Get in touch with Amy on amy@capsadvocacy.org or 07910 983 030 to join the Collective Advocacy group. Or sign up using the button above.
