Tell us a bit about you and your life outside of Dunfermline Advocacy. Recently retired after a long career in banking and last 7 years working for a national capacity building charity. Love football (Aberdeen fan), play golf, love listening to music and going to see live music concerts. Father of 3 grown up daughters, husband of Dorothy and dog […]

My advocacy partner has been in his new home for just over two months now, and I’m pleased to say he is settling in really well. My first visit to his flat was …only two weeks after he had moved in, and so it was still all very new to him, and indeed for his support staff. What is so […]

It’s often hard to explain to people what a Citizen Advocacy Development Worker actually does.  No two days are ever the same.  But here’s what one day this week looked like for me… 8 am An earlier than usual start to deliver some training to hospital staff about ‘non-instructed’ advocacy.  I have matched a patient with severe autism with a […]

“I move out next week”  Those words were music to my ears when I recently had a catch up with my advocacy partner.  My name is Phil and I have been a Citizen Advocate with the Dunfermline Advocacy Charity since early 2012. My advocacy partner has been resident at Lynebank Hospital in Dunfermline for 17 years. To have finally reached […]

“The Scottish Government is inviting you to have your say on what a fairer Scotland should look like in 2030, and the steps that should be taken to make this vision a reality.” – This is the conversation that the Scottish Government is attempting to have with the Scottish people about the future direction of the Country. I’ve worked long […]

Wednesday 1st July 2015, and a group of very excited representatives from Dunfermline Advocacy headed off to the Queen’s Garden Party at the Palace of Holyrood House, Edinburgh, in all their finery. What an experience it was for us all!  A great atmosphere at Holyrood awaited: from the formality of the arrival of The Queen and members of The Royal […]

I feel compelled to react to the press release issued on Friday 26 June from nfpSynergy entitled ‘2 in 3 people say rebrands and London offices are a waste of charities’ money’ . The survey also features in Third Force News in an article entitled ’10 things your charity should and shouldn’t do according to the public’. In January 2015 nfpSynergy’s Charity Awareness Monitor […]

      It is a big responsibility knowing that you are the person colleagues rely on to re-fund their project and post.   Without the support of an HR Department, a PR & Communications Department, a Legal Department or an IT Department much of my time is spent on “other stuff”.     Being a Sole Fundraiser can sometimes […]

The Team have been planning to start a DA Blog for a few months now- we had some technical issues along with training for new staff to sort before we could start…. alongside discussions about what we would actually write sorry blog about. Crucially we had to decide who would write the first real blog post! Well this ‘honour’ fell […]