Central Highlands Advocacy Health Alliance – Improving legal, health and wellbeing outcomes for disadvantaged young people
The Health Justice Partnership (HJP) comprises Ballarat Community Health (BCH), the Central Highlands Community Legal Centre (CHCLC) and Federation University Australia. This project was originally funded by the Victorian Legal Service Board Major Grants in 2014 and has continued to provide much needed services to young people in the Ballarat and surrounding regions.
The HJP aims to reduce the impact of legal issues on the health and well-being of disadvantaged young people in the region by providing timely legal assistance and appropriate referral pathways.
Young people are referred to the Youth Lawyer by worker referrals from Central Highlands Community Legal Centre or Ballarat Community Health as well as external agencies and self-referrals.
The majority of clients referred to the Youth Lawyer identified as having one obvious legal problem however after an interview with the Youth Lawyer it was soon identified that most clients had multiple legal issues.
Secondary consults between the Youth Lawyer and agency staff have been essential in building rapport between the legal and non-legal workers, information sharing as well as providing a wraparound service for clients engaged with agency workers. CHCLC is proud to have involvement in such a valuable and potentially life changing project and we hope to source additional funding to sustain the project into the future.