Welcome to the Irish advocacy Network (IAN) website.

Peer advocates are people who have personal experience of mental health difficulties who have achieved a sufficient level of recovery to complete an accredited training course in peer advocacy. Once they are qualified they can complete a period working with an existing peer advocate before engaging with clients on their own. This puts them in a unique position in understanding the problems faced by people with mental health difficulties.

IAN has peer advocates in place in most health board areas in Ireland, north and south, who regularly attend acute units and day centers. Sometimes they meet people in the community.

Their main job is to give support and information to people with mental health difficulties by befriending them and offering a confidential listening ear or peer advocacy.

Peer advocacy is not about judging people or telling them what to do. Instead the peer advocate helps people to take control of their lives and to do positive things for themselves. IAN also offers peer advocacy training, volunteer training, and user-support meetings.

If you want to get in touch with us straight away click here.

Other services we offer include:

- Staff awareness training
- Family awareness training
- Full-scale audits of services
- Nursing module pilot at D.C.U.
- Family support/awareness training
- Strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation
- Group facilitation