Holistic Advocacy

Tanya Neiman, Director of the Volunteer Legal Services Program of the Bar Association of San Francisco and a leading advocate of holistic service delivery, defines the concept in the following way:

The holistic approach to client service focuses upon an analysis of what the client community needs to get ahead rather than an exclusive focus on the client's immediate request for services. The holistic strategy for helping clients involves:

• An analysis of the full scope of a client's situation, not just the issues the client presents;
• An identification of the advocacy strategy which will address the client's myriad needs; and
• The mobilization of resources to meet those needs.

There is no single model for creating a holistic delivery system, since problems and resources vary widely from one community to the next. A low-income person seeking assistance often has multiple needs beyond legal needs (e.g., counseling, medical, child care, employment, training, etc.). Some ways in which holistic service delivery might attempt to meet these multiple needs are:

1. Through collaboration among service providers across disciplines (law, social work, health professions, education, etc.);
2. By physically locating multiple services within the same agency; or
3. Through increased cross-disciplinary knowledge and referrals among various service providers. By taking a holistic approach to service delivery, advocates can often achieve better, lasting results for clients.

A common example of an area where partnerships have occurred among legal services organizations and other advocates is in the provision of services to victims of domestic violence.