Agency Details:

Advocates, Inc.

Advocates' mission is to help people achieve their hopes and dreams within the fabric of their communities. We partner with people with disabilities, elders, and those with other challenges to overcome personal obstacles and societal barriers so that they can obtain and keep homes, engage in work and other meaningful activities, and sustain satisfying relationships. We work to inspire communities to create opportunities for contribution and participation by all.

Description:
Advocates, Inc. offers services that include supported housing, employment supports, advocacy and benefits assistance, mental health and substance abuse clinics, 24/7 psychiatric emergency services and community justice services. Advocates’ most intensive work is focused on behalf of people with disabilities. Over 80% of Advocates staff and resources support 800 people with developmental disabilities, psychiatric disabilities, cerebral palsy, autism and physical disabilities in residential, day habilitation and employment programs.

The programs of Advocates, Inc. serve a wide geographic area. With the administrative offices located in Framingham, the largest concentration of services Advocates provides occurs in the MetroWest area. Programs and services are located in more than 40 towns in and around the MetroWest area and beyond.

History:
In 1975, Advocates was started by a group of families to provide rehabilitative services to persons living at Westborough State Hospital. It was quickly recognized that the greatest need was for community-based services to support individuals leaving state institutions. Advocates was awarded its first community residential contract to serve 8 people in 1979. In 1983, Advocates was awarded it first residential contracts serving individuals with developmental disabilities. In 1988 Advocates awarded the Psychiatric Emergency Services contract for the Framingham area. In 1990 Advocates merged with Together Clinic in Marlborough adding psychiatry and outpatient counseling services to the agency. In 1999 Advocates merged with Alternative Home, Inc. to provide residential services in the Newton and Waltham areas. In 2002, Advocates merged with MetroWest Human Services, adding day supports and supported job placement services as well as additional residential services for individuals with developmental disabilities.

Current services also include:
• Advocates Senior Support Services, which provides elders with comprehensive supports to enable them to live in their own homes as long as possible, avoiding unnecessary institutionalization in nursing homes;
• Advocates Region V Clinical Team, a unique partnership with the Department of Mental Retardation on the South Shore to provide a network of expert Psychologists and behavioral professionals to support people with developmental disabilities in crisis, to avoid unnecessary hospitalization of people who may be in behavioral, or social, rather than psychiatric crisis. This team is augmented by Advocates’ partnership with Arbour-Fuller Hospital, where Advocates manages a unit which provides specific supports to people with developmental disabilities who are in need of hospitalization;
• Advocates Advocacy and Benefits Program, headed by an attorney, devoted to assisting people in obtaining housing, supports and entitlements, and overcoming other barriers to living and working in the community;
• Advocates Natick Young Adult Program provides service-rich residential supports for young people aging out of the DSS system, helping young adults build skills for independent community integration;
• Advocates Deaf and Hard of Hearing Programs provide specialized services for people with psychiatric or developmental disabilities who are Deaf; these services are staffed and led primarily by people who are themselves Deaf, thereby supporting an environment that is familiar and friendly to the people receiving supports;
• Advocates Prader-Willi Programs offer specialized residential and outpatient services for people with Prader-Willi Syndrome.
• In partnership with Supported Living Inc., Advocates provides residential and employment supports to adults with brain injuries.
• In the greater Boston area, Advocates provides case management and support for families of Asian descent caring for a family member with developmental disabilities.

Contact person: Corinne Barber, Development Coordinator, (phone), (email)

Office fax number: (508) 626-0326

Address:

1 Clarks Hill, Suite 305 Framingham, MA 01702 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.advocatesinc.org

Directions:

From the Mass Pike: Take Rt. 30 or Rt. 9 to Rt. 126 South (Concord St.) Go South approximately 1 mile. Take a right onto Everit St. Everit St. becomes Clarks Hill. Office is on the third floor, around the back of the building. From other locations: Take Rt. 126 through Framingham Center. Take a right on Everit St. Everit St. becomes Clarks Hill. Office is on the third floor, around the back of the building.

Last updated on November 17, 2009