On 20th January 2026, over 50 people gathered in Edinburgh to strengthen collective advocacy across Scotland. The event brought together collective advocacy group members, independent advocacy organisations, commissioners, and the Minister for Social Care and Mental Wellbeing, Tom Arthur MSP, to build solutions for sustainable provision. Today VOX and SIAA are sharing the Advocating for Collective Advocacy Event Report.
We all want to live the lives we choose, with the people and things we love, doing what matters to us. Collective advocacy makes this possible by bringing people together to build power, challenge discrimination, and shape the decisions that affect their lives. It’s about communities developing their own solutions and ensuring that those most affected by decisions have a genuine say in making them.
Right now, there’s a critical choice facing Scotland: will we invest in the structures that help people participate in decisions affecting their lives, or will we cut the very provision that prevents crisis and builds community resilience?
Collective Advocacy speaks truth to power. It’s important for marginalised people to have their voices heard, especially in these times of crisis where it often seems only the richest and most powerful matter.
Collective advocacy group member
What Collective Advocacy Builds
The event, co-hosted by VOX Scotland and SIAA with support from CAPS Independent Advocacy, created space for honest conversations about how collective advocacy works, what it achieves, and what’s needed to sustain it.
Collective advocacy groups across Scotland are creating change: They’re influencing policy through co-production, challenging systemic discrimination, preventing crises through peer support networks, holding services accountable, and building communities where people can be their authentic selves.
Lothian Voices met with ministers about homelessness policy, ensuring lived experience voices reached parliamentary level. The Much More Than A Label group delivers workshops on personality disorder to nurses and therapists—often the only training professionals receive on this diagnosis. Spirit Advocacy supported the review of mental health assessment templates and participates in the induction of new mental health nursing staff. Independent Advocacy Perth and Kinross‘s New Scots group has shed light on issues connected to life in temporary hotel accommodation and contributed to Perth’s City of Sanctuary strategy.
These are life-changing groups and we need more of them.
Event participant
Minister’s Reflections
Minister for Social Care and Mental Wellbeing, Tom Arthur MSP, spent the morning listening to discussions at each table about collective advocacy’s value, the funding crisis, and the legal framework. In his reflections, the Minister acknowledged collective advocacy’s power to reshape societal dynamics and its importance in effective democratic processes. He emphasised that decision-makers need ongoing feedback from those affected by their decisions in order to adapt and improve services.
On funding pressures, he encouraged Integration Joint Boards to recognise the preventative value of collective advocacy and the cost savings achieved through early intervention, noting that without this support, there’s a risk that people’s situations deteriorate, leading to more costly crisis interventions later.
The Minister confirmed the Scottish Government’s commitment to a rights-based approach. He outlined that Scottish Mental Health Law Review implementation would be phased, with the Adults with Incapacity Bill as the current legislative focus, before moving towards mental health reform legislation, pending the results of the elections, in the next parliamentary term.
Building the Infrastructure for Reform
Graham Morgan, Professor Jill Stavert, and Professor Colin McKay, three contributors to the Scottish Mental Health Law Review, joined the event to share reflections on collective advocacy’s role in mental health reform.
Graham Morgan emphasised that “speaking out collectively is often an act of liberation and empowerment. It creates a sense of community, belonging and connection.” He highlighted that the Review heard clearly from people and services that collective advocacy must be properly resourced, with sustainable long-term funding, and that its independence must be protected.
Professor Jill Stavert connected collective advocacy to Scotland’s human rights obligations under both the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, noting that independent advocacy (individual, self and collective) is vital to respecting these rights.
Professor Colin McKay reminded attendees: “You can have all the laws you want, but without systems in place to support people, they won’t make the difference people want to see.” He emphasised that the Review said work on collective advocacy recommendations “should begin now; indeed, that it needed to begin now if the wider reforms we recommend are to be effective.”
He concluded: “It’s not just that people want collective advocacy; it’s not just that human rights require it—it’s a key part of realising the Government’s own vision for mental health.”
The report sets out practical recommendations for building sustainable collective advocacy:
For the Scottish Government:
- Update the Independent Advocacy Guide for Commissioners to explicitly include collective advocacy
- Progress SMHLR recommendations on collective advocacy through two concurrent workstreams: strengthening legal rights and duties, and developing infrastructure to support expanded provision now
For Health and Social Care Partnerships:
- Complete strategic advocacy plans in all 32 areas
- Fully use engagement strategies to involve collective advocacy groups in service design
- Fund and support local collective advocacy groups as core preventative infrastructure
For SIAA, VOX Scotland, and Collective Advocacy Groups:
- Support the Scottish Government, Mental Welfare Commission and local commissioners to understand and grow collective advocacy
- Build and share the evidence base demonstrating impact and value
- Hold decision-makers accountable to legal duties and policy commitments
- Work together to campaign for full SMHLR implementation
When we invest in people coming together to advocate collectively, we create the foundations for a more accountable, responsive, and rights-respecting society. That’s not just good for the people in collective advocacy groups—it’s good for all of us.
As participants reminded us throughout the day: collective advocacy doesn’t just support individuals; it makes services work better, prevents expensive crises, and builds the community connections that help everyone thrive.
- Read the full report: Advocating for Collective Advocacy Event Report.
- Read SIAA’s 2025 Position Paper: Lang May Yer Voice Sound: Sustaining Collective and Citizen Advocacy Models
- Read about SIAA and VOX Scotland’s joint letter and work to advocate for collective advocacy on the VOX website.
Our thanks to everyone who participated, to Minister Tom Arthur MSP for listening, to the Scottish Mental Health Law Review panel for their insights, and to graphic recorder Jenny Capon for capturing the day so beautifully.
