How to Set Up and Run an Advice Service

This work covers the basic principles underlying advice work - the difference between advice, information giving and counselling; the idea of empathy; making sure enquirers know when they have a choice; and when and how to help an enquirer.

Besides these general issues of principle, the book discusses many practical issues.

It looks at the things that need to be provided at national level or shared between advice offices, such as: information systems - what they should contain and how to compile them and keep them up-to-date; training programmes - what they should cover; where an advice centre should be; how to manage an advice office; how to organize the daily work of an advice centre; paid advisers and volunteers; and isolated advice workers.

The whole book is aimed at helping people to set up advice services of good quality.

The final chapter looks at details of quality control - reviewing the way the service is provided; reviewing the performance of individual advisers and managers; checking the standard of advice in records of individual interviews.