As the importance of peer-led advocacy is increasingly recognised and more local advocacy groups are being commissioned, it has become clear to the Alliance that there is a need for high quality training and ongoing support for DAAT-funded advocacy groups. The Alliance plans to establish support contracts with individual DAATs to provide training and support services for their local advocacy groups.
We also aim to work in partnership with DAATs throughout England to create an information-sharing network of local advocacy services, and to allow for more effective peer-to-peer dissemination of best practice. Members of this network will be badged as Alliance Advocacy Associates (AAA), which we hope will become the quality standard mark for peer-led drug and alcohol advocacy.
DAATs which work with the Alliance to develop a local peer advocacy service will make significant progress towards ensuring that "a network of advocacy and support services is available which includes access to drug related support and mutual aid groups" as recommended in the 2010-11 treatment planning grid 2 checklist provided by the National Treatment Agency (NTA).
Access to advocacy for all service users means that there will be a greater number of people receiving appropriate treatment and support in their treatment journey, and therefore better treatment outcomes for each DAAT area. It acts as a significant tool in the reintegration and recovery agenda for advocates and advocacy clients alike.
Training
In each year of any support contract, advocacy groups will receive four blocks of training. Training will be provided within the DAAT area, unless two neighbouring DAATs join together to reduce contract costs, in which case training will be held in the most accessible town for all participants. Over the first year of the scheme, we will be aiming to get our courses NVQ accredited. The courses which will be delivered in the first year of any contract are as follows:
Organisational development training At the beginning of the contract there will be a three day course on the practical side of setting up, constituting and advertising a group, keeping it running once it has been set up, the legal obligations of different types of small organisation, and recruiting new members, with a particular focus on problems experienced by user-led organisations with a preponderance of volunteers. This course will also provide advocacy associates with the tools to manage small budgets and seek grant funding for activities.
Advocacy training The second and third courses (five days in total), which will take place in the two months following the first course, are parts one and two of the Alliance’s intensive course on peer-led advocacy, covering everything from the basic and universal principles of advocacy to modules on the specifics of practising advocacy within different treatment models, and for people with complex needs (eg polydrug users or dual diagnosis service users). There will be roleplays and groupwork to illustrate best practice within substance misuse advocacy. The course will include training on how drug and alcohol treatment currently works in England, with a focus on current best practice and treatment guidelines. Trainees will also learn about new drug treatment pilots and the national policy which informs them.
Mentoring and follow-up training The third course will run half way through the year and will consist of two days’ training: one day’s follow-up advocacy training, covering any changes in national policy and passing on examples of best practice from other Alliance advocacy associates; and one day's training on mentoring less experienced service users, both as they enter treatment and need information and advice about how it could work for them, and as new recruits to the advocacy team.
Ongoing support
Ongoing clinical support for the advocacy team will have several elements. Advocacy teams will be entitled to two two-hour conference calls per month with the Alliance’s advocacy manager, who will provide a supervisory overview of the project.
Day-to-day support will be available from a dedicated phone line staffed during working hours (10am to 5.30pm) by our helpline and advocacy workers, all of whom have many years of experience delivering advocacy within the substance misuse field.
Team members will have access to an online forum for all Alliance Advocacy Associates to share advice and information about best practice and discuss case tactics. (Forum contributions will be pre-moderated by Alliance staff to ensure client confidentiality).
Quality assurance
Each team will receive a quarterly full-day visit from the Alliance's advocacy manager to perform a quality assurance assessment of the service and an overview of casework, which will be written up and submitted to the DAAT.
Teams will be given the documentary framework for the service, including but by no means limited to: advocacy and query processing forms and a blank database for case recording; a how-to guide to advocacy including guidance notes on how to deal with commonly occurring problems which require advocacy; specimen advertising materials; copies of relevant national guidance; a draft constitution; a handbook about setting up an organisation including draft policies and procedures; and a suggested code of conduct.
Professional development
A representative from each local advocacy team will be invited to become a member of the governing body for the Alliance. This body meets on a six-monthly basis and will lead the development of the scheme in future years, as well as shaping the future of the Alliance as an organisation. This body will also act as a nexus of best practice information sharing. Membership of a governing body will provide representatives with experience of formal meeting structures and holding positions of responsibility, which will stand them in good stead for future employment.
All Alliance Advocacy Associates will be offered discounted places at the Alliance’s annual conference, allowing them to share best practice and build links with others within the user involvement field.
Partnership
This scheme requires partnership work between the DAAT and the Alliance. The DAAT will have direct input into operational matters and will need to provide the advocacy groups with:
appropriate premises which allow confidentiality of clients to be maintained
a budget to cover communications, utilities costs, materials, travel and other expenses
access to a dedicated computer and internet connection
incentives for volunteers, if appropriate
CRB checks for all participants before the service goes live locally
a named local contact to provide practical help to the group in the event of issues with the day-to-day running of the group or non-clinical problems.
If the DAAT prefers formally to employ an advocate to manage the volunteer team, a budget will also be needed for their salary and on-costs.
Access to premises may already be in place in DAAT areas where the advocates will be drawn from an already up and running user group. The nature of the space will be dictated by what format the DAAT wants the advocacy service to take. For instance, if there is to be a weekly drop-in as part of the service, it might be inappropriate to rent a room in a local drug service, while if the majority of work is to be over the phone and any client meetings will take place outside the office this should not be a problem.
While the Alliance will provide clinical supervision and advice and support around non-clinical matters, the nature of the scheme is not such that we can provide practical help around the day to day running of the group or non-clinical issues arising, which is why we ask the DAAT to provide a direct contact to work directly with the group. In DAAT areas where there is a User Involvement Officer, this role would sensibly fall to them. Advantages of this scheme for DAATs Local users have access to local knowledge. National advocacy is a very effective tool, but it involves quite a lot of research by national advocates into how each local system works. Having the advocates coming from that system makes the advocacy process more efficient and can cut through red tape.
This scheme will cost less than half the amount that we currently charge to have an embedded advocate come and build an advocacy team in a DAAT area for two days a week, and will offer a greater level of day-to-day support to local advocates.
There will be no local development costs for protocols and recording systems, and local teams will not have to reinvent the wheel. We will provide the documentary basis for the service at the first training courses and will add to it throughout the service’s association with the Alliance in response to needs expressed by groups.
The DAAT can decide on the shape of the service according to local need and its own budgetary considerations.
The framework the team will be using will be the same for each DAAT area the Alliance works in, allowing significant scope for cross-agency working between advocacy teams (subject to client permission), and information sharing if a client moves out of area or needs treatment not available within the DAAT area.
A high level of clinical governance and monitoring means that the DAAT can be sure that the service is being delivered to a guaranteed standard, and that significant problems with the service will be flagged up and addressed with the DAAT as soon as they arise.
Informed and involved users can feed back into the DAAT’s own treatment planning processes and decision-making bodies.
Costs
Thanks to a service development grant from the Department of Health this programme, which normally costs between £20k and £25k per DAAT area, is now available to all DAAT partners who join the scheme in 2010-11 for a discounted rate of £17.5k. This rate would be frozen for those partners for the next three years, offering a price reduction of up to £22.5k over that period. For partners joining part way through the year, the cost of the contract would reduce by £625 for each month which has already passed in recognition of the corresponding reduction of the support element of the contract. For example, for partners joining in July, the cost of the 2010-11 contract would be £15,625 and for partners joining in October it would be £13,750.
In addition to this, if we can offer training to groups from two neighbouring DAATs at the same time, the cost would be reduced by £5k for each DAAT: the support service would remain separate, with each service receiving as much supervision, support and quality assurance as a team whose training was not shared. There is also a possibility of further bulk discounts if the scheme is bought in on a regional level.
Contacts
For further details about the scheme, please contact Ursula Brown or Daren Garratt on 020 7299 4304 or by emailing .
