As the first community legal centre to establish a Health Justice Partnership (HJP) within a major metropolitan hospital in Australia, we understand the strong link between health and legal issues. We also know that integrating services improves access to justice for people who would otherwise not get help.

With this in mind, in 2019 through funding from the Legal Services Board + Commissioner, IMCL began developing a pilot model for delivering free legal help to people who come into contact with the PACER team and connected mental health services.

The project integrates IMCL lawyers with mental health professionals and police emergency responders to facilitate a more compassionate, health-focused and holistic response to people experiencing a mental health crisis. 

To read more about the development of the model over the last two years and our next steps, visit our website.

'As communities, services and policy-makers, we have an ethical obligation to assist consumers to participate in and lead decisions that affect their lives. But you also create better policy and services when you engage with people at the early stages in services design.' Simon Katterl, Lived Experience Advisor

To build the best model for our PACER program, as well as IMCL's wider service delivery, we are placing mental health consumers at the centre of everything we do. 
 

An important part of this is the establishment of an inaugural consumer advisory group.

To learn more about our consumer advisory group and the role of our Lived Experience Advisor, visit our website. 

Inspired by a conversation with a local police sergeant in 2018, IMCL Director of Strategy, Engagement & Projects, Nadia Morales, saw an opportunity for IMCL to improve access to legal help for people experiencing mental illness.

In 2019, Managing Lawyer - Health Justice Partnerships, Molly Williams, began working alongside Nadia to implement the project.

Molly has found integrated practice within the mental health context to be a challenging but exciting new undertaking.

'It's exciting to work in a space that is so dynamic - where there is lots of change going on and an appetite for things to be done differently.' 

To learn more about the project and the people behind it, visit our website.

A recent article by the Guardian placed a spotlight on the challenges facing Victoria's mental health system, including its reliance on police as first responders to people experiencing mental health crises.

In exploring alternatives to the current system, the article featured our Managing Lawyer, Molly, who spoke about the role of IMCL's PACER Project.