An advocate contacts you to explain the service and discuss your situation. This is an opportunity to identify your most important issues and think about the kind of advocacy support you feel you need. The advocate explains that they will:

• Be independent of service providers and free from conflicts of interest
• Provide assistance to enable you to try to resolve your issue(s)
• Help you identify sources of information
• Discuss concerns with you and jointly agree goals to work towards
• Agree with you the actions they will undertake (such as writing letters, attending meetings, making telephone calls) and what actions you will undertake.
• Keep in regular contact
• Never give advice or tell you what to do
• Never, in normal circumstances, disclose any information you give them to anyone else without your express permission.

If the advocate believes there is a serious risk to your safety or the safety of another person, or that a crime may be/has been committed, the advocate must consider breaking confidentiality. The advocate will try to talk to you before doing this. Very rarely a situation may arise which is so serious that the advocate must take immediate action and it is not possible to speak to you before breaching confidentiality. If this happens, every attempt is made to speak to you afterwards to explain why the decision to breach confidentiality was taken.