The Independent Rights Advice Service is designed and delivered using a partnership model that brings together multiple organizations and stakeholders including the expertise of people with lived and living experience of involuntary treatment. The Service is supported by our Lived Experience Leadership Committee, facilitated through the expertise of Health Justice, to ensure that the voices of lived and living experts inform every aspect of our work.
The Service is also grateful for the support of our Governance Committee, which provides leadership and stewardship from a variety of stakeholders and partners to shape the Independent Rights Advice Service and ensure the focus of the Service remains with the individuals accessing it. The Governance Committee includes crucial expertise from:
- People who have lived and living experience with involuntary treatment;
- Métis Nation BC;
- Community Legal Assistance Society;
- Health Justice;
- Urban Native Youth Association;
- First Nations Justice Council; and
- First Nations Health Authority.
The Independent Rights Advice Service is accountable to these two committees, as well as to the individuals that access the Service.
Funding support and service providers
The Ministry of Attorney General, in partnership with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions, and the Ministry of Children and Family Development, are supporting this work. The contract for this Service is administered by the Legal Access Policy Division within the Justice Services Branch of the Ministry of Attorney General.
Organizations supporting service delivery of the Independent Rights Advice Service include CMHA Mid-Island, CMHA BC Division, and CMHA Vernon & District.