One of our administrators will answer your call.
The administrators are not practicing advocates. However, they will provide a listening ear and support you through signposting or, if appropriate and with your consent, take your details to pass on to one of our practicing peer advocates.
Here’s what happens next…
The peer advocate will contact you to discuss the support they are able to provide. We aim for this to happen within two working days. If you are an inpatient in a psychiatric hospital where the Irish Advocacy Network delivers peer advocacy, the administrator will provide details of when the advocate will next be available on the unit you are resident.
When talking with you, our administrators will remain non-judgemental and treat you with dignity and respect.In the event the administrator has concern for your safety, it may be necessary that they contact outside agencies. In this instance, the administrator will inform you of the actions they will be taking and who they will contact to share concern for your safety.
Note: to access a practicing peer advocate we operate on a self-referral basis. If you are ringing on behalf of someone you are concerned about, we will ask that the person contacts us directly.
Below are some Frequently Asked Questions to help you understand how we protect your privacy while using Irish Advocacy Network peer advocacy services.
Peer Advocacy for Mental Health will only retain your personal data for as long as it is necessary to fulfil the purpose it is being processed for. All personal data collected by the Irish Advocacy Network is retained in accordance with our Data Retention and Erasure Policy. This states that we hold client records no longer than three years from the last contact with our services unless special circumstances arise.
When it is no longer necessary to hold your personal data, we securely delete or destroy it. Please view our Privacy Policy page for more information
Only Peer Advocacy for Mental Health staff who are directly involved with the management of the peer advocacy support we provide to you have access to any data provided.
All Peer Advocacy for Mental Health staff who have access to your personal data have received training in Data Protection, bound by confidentiality and obliged to keep your personal data secure specific for the purposes as specified by Peer Advocacy for Mental Health .
Only non-personal information will be used in the compilation of reports. We will never use personal information or identify a peer advocacy client in our reports.
Our retention of your personal data may exceed the duration of your case but will be reviewed in line with our Data Retention and Erasure policy.
Please contact us by phone (Dublin office +353 (0) 1 8728684) or by email (admin@irishadvocacynetwork.com) if you wish to find out what information we hold on you, if you would like to learn more about how we use and/or protect your information, inform us of changes to your personal data or if you want it removed from our system. As per the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003, we will update or delete your personal data as requested.
Our Privacy Statement sets out how we deal with any data we collect whilst using our services.
