The Advocates Way

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FOUNDATIONS
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CENTRAL TENETS

• The Advocates Way is the philosophy that guides
  our work. It is based on the idea that ALL of us
  are unique individuals with great potential for
  health, well-being and fulfillment.
• It is a core value of Advocates that we treat
  people exactly as we would want a beloved member
  of our family, a friend, or ourselves to be
  treated.

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Overcoming Obstacles Realizing Dreams

• Part of life is having to overcome obstacles in
  order to live the lives we want to live, be the
  people we want to be and fulfill our hopes and
  dreams.

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• People with disabilities often have to face
  additional challenges. These challenges can
  range from the physical, - such as an absence of
  curb cuts, to the emotional - such as prejudice,
  discrimination and oppression.

• However, regardless of the severity of a persons
  challenges, and no matter how long or difficult a
  persons path has been, we believe that with the
  appropriate supports, a persons own efforts and
  the appreciation of their rights, every person
  can grow, change and achieve a fulfilling life.

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RELATIONSHIPS
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Listen Deeply

• The voices of the people we serve are the most
  crucial ingredients in the success of our work.
• We must be able to understand a persons
  perspective, even when that person has difficulty
  expressing his or her perspective, or
  communicates in modalities other than language.

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• We strive to listen with empathy and with both
  an open heart and an open mind. We strive to
  affirm the uniqueness of each individual we
  serve, to enjoy the experience of knowing that
  person and to be open to being changed by that
  person.
• As staff members of Advocates, our role is to
  listen actively and to create opportunities for
  inclusion and partnership with the people we
  serve in every step of program design, service
  delivery and program evaluation. The experiences
  had by the people we serve are the benchmarks by
  which we measure success.

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A Powerful Union

• When we combine a persons expertise on his or
  her own life with that persons hopes and dreams
  and factor in our knowledge and capabilities, in
  an atmosphere of hope, collaboration and mutual
  respect, truly marvelous things can happen.

• We work to create relationships in which the
  people we serve feel heard and understood, are
  respected as experts about their own lives and
  take leading roles in all of the decision-making
  and planning that impact their lives.

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Finding and Celebrating Strengths

• We are committed to remember at all times the
  innumerable strengths, capacities, relationships,
  talents, accomplishments, skills and other
  remarkable attributes that make up a human being
  and not simply whatever diagnosis or disability
  that human being might be faced with.

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• We also try to imagine a persons potential if
  given a full and real chance to live a life of
  his or her own design. In this way, we strive to
  avoid having our own preconceptions limit the
  potential of the people we serve.

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EVERY INTERACTION IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR RESPECT

• It is the obligation of every staff member to
  communicate our commitment to partnership with
  the people we serve, and to demonstrate the
  utmost respect in every interaction and in every
  setting.
• It is the obligation of all staff members to be
  conscious and deliberate in action and in
  communication to embody respect, inclusiveness
  and deference to the preferences of the people we
  serve whenever possible.

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• This sort of partnership requires openness,
  warmth, flexibility and friendliness on the part
  of the staff. We seek to help people grow,
  change, and realize their dreams in an atmosphere
  of acceptance and encouragement, in which they
  feel safe enough to take risks, learn from their
  mistakes and try new ways of being and living.

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Common Values with One Another and with Our
Community

• We aspire to treat each other with the same
  open-mindedness and open-heartedness that we
  extend to the people we serve.
• Similarly, we strive to listen deeply to each
  other, and to find ways of partnering and
  collaborating based on mutual respect.
• We strive to extend this same respect and
  collaborative spirit to the communities in which
  we live and work.

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We All Desire a Fulfilling Life

• We remind ourselves, too, that people who have
  grappled with mental illness or the challenges of
  a disability want more than a solution to the
  problems caused by their difficulties of living.
  All people want to lead meaningful and fulfilling
  lives, to cultivate what is best in themselves
  and to enhance their experiences of loving,
  working and playing.

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• We always want to find, nurture and celebrate
  each persons capacities for love and work,
  courage and resiliency, compassion and integrity,
  self-knowledge and wisdom among many other
  positive qualities in all members of the human
  family. We want to encourage the people we serve
  and each other to enjoy the good things
  available in life, including fellowship,
  laughter, and joy.

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Challenges
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Building Trust

• We appreciate that, unfortunately, many people
  have had experiences in which they have felt not
  listened to or respected by people in positions
  of power.
• For that reason, we must take steps to
  demonstrate to the people we serve that we see
  them as true partners and full co-experts in our
  work.

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Using Power Honestly, Wisely and Respectfully

• At times we are in situations and relationships
  with people who are engaging in behavior that is
  challenging and even sometimes dangerous, and we
  have to act in our professional roles in ways
  that the person we are serving does not want.

• For example, in a psychiatric crisis, we may
  have to commit a person to a hospital against his
  or her will or we may be serving a person who
  has a guardian, and who is forced to take
  medications or to live in a setting not of his or
  her own choice.

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• In these situations, we must make every effort to
  honor a persons dignity, respect that persons
  rights and afford that person as many real
  choices as we can within the scope of the
  persons legal situation.
• It is however, crucial that we be as honest and
  clear as we can about the power dynamics in such
  situations.

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Respectful Language

• How we speak to, with and about the people we
  serve is important. We need to be mindful that
  language can be demeaning and disempowering,
  without the speaker having any such intention in
  mind. Especially in the fields of mental health
  and developmental disabilities, short-hand terms
  can be profoundly shaming and hurtful.

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• To this end, we make every effort never to
  speak of a person as if they were defined by a
  condition or diagnosis. For this reason, the use
  of person-first language in all contexts and all
  settings is of paramount importance we speak of
  a person with schizophrenia, or a person with
  a developmental disability, or a person with
  substance abuse issues, for example.

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Understanding the Whole Person

• When we encounter a person who is facing a
  challenge, we try to think about that person from
  4 perspectives

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• First, a social or cultural perspective, that
  appreciates that we are all connected with one
  another in webs of relationships, and with our
  communities and society as a whole.

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• A second way of looking at people involves a
  biological perspective, acknowledging that each
  person has a unique biological endowment of
  strengths and vulnerabilities, and that sometimes
  human problems can be at least partially
  understood as chemical imbalances, for which
  biological treatments are sometimes helpful
  options.

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• The third perspective from which we try to
  understand people is a psychological perspective,
  appreciating that all human beings have scars
  from the past, and that sometimes recovery from
  suffering or living a fulfilling life requires
  working through old and unresolved issues.

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• Finally, we approach people from a spiritual
  perspective, appreciating that we all have to
  find meaning in our lives, and that sometimes
  people experience difficulty due to issues in
  their spiritual lives.

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THE PROMISE
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Looking Inward

• We acknowledge that we are not where we want to
  be with regard to putting this philosophy into
  action. We often fall short of the mark. We do
  not always treat the people we serve as equals in
  every regard. We do not always use our power
  wisely or mindfully, nor do we always acknowledge
  it when we use power in a disempowering way.

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• We acknowledge, too, that the staff of
  Advocates often face great difficulties in doing
  their work the press of paperwork, not enough
  resources, overwhelming and competing needs, and
  sometimes community resistance and inadequate
  compensation. Advocates staff needs and deserves
  support and encouragement to practice The
  Advocates Way, day in and day out.

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Miles to go before we sleep

• We pledge to be open in every interaction and
  to consider how we may be missing the mark. We
  pledge to continually try to behave in a way
  consistent with this philosophy.

• We pledge to remain open always, to be taught by
  and changed by, the people we serve.
• It is our great hope that this philosophy will
  grow and change as Advocates grows and changes.