Hello Gentle Lamb: The term "advocate" is, from the Skeezyks' perspective, a much used... much abused term that can & does mean different things to different people... & organizations. In general, I would have to say that a "professional advocate" (someone who is employed to provide advocacy services by perhaps a not-for-profit organization) is probably not going to be someone who would provide the kind of on-going relationship it sounds as though you need & want. These kinds of "professional advocates" typically just get involved for a limited period of time to try to help solve specific problems within their areas of concern & expertise. Such "professional advocates" are often employed by consumer organizations such as mental health or developmental disabilities advocacy groups. Sometimes health-related organizations may also employ persons as patient advocates.

The type of more on-going relationship it sounds like you're wanting may be something that would be more in the realm of a volunteer program where people volunteer their time to be sort-of a big sister / big brother type of support person. Here again, though, this type of program is one that would be most likely to be operated by a not-for-profit consumer-type organization... the same kind that might employ professional advocates. So, either way, my thought would be that what you might do is to see if there are some not-for-profit consumer organizations in your area that focus on the types of needs you have, such as either general or specific medical concerns, mental health, physical disabilities, etc. Even if the particular organization(s) you contact don't provide the types of services you need, they may know who does. It may take some digging to find what you need. Good luck!