January 20, 2017
A new legal service has opened in Toowoomba to provide free face-to-face advice on mental health law, guardianship, administration and other legal matters to individuals with mental illness.
The Toowoomba Mental Health Legal Outreach Clinic is operated one day per month by a lawyer from Queensland Advocacy Incorporated (QAI), a Brisbane-based legal and advocacy service for individuals with a disability.
The service is based at The Advocacy and Support Centre (TASC) National Toowoomba office, with outreach to local health services including Toowoomba Base Hospital and Baillie Henderson Hospital.
The service is open to anyone in the Toowoomba region who is receiving involuntary treatment or care for a mental illness or intellectual disability.
“On average, individuals assisted by the outreach service have been detained in mental health services or subject to involuntary treatment for more than 15 years,” QAI solicitor Tony McCarthy said.
“For many of these people, contact with this outreach service is the first time they have had access to face-to-face legal advice about their rights.
“The service provides individuals with a one-off face-to-face advice appointment with one of QAI’s specialist lawyers.
“Ongoing assistance may be provided in some cases, such as where the person requires representation before the Mental Health Review Tribunal or the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
“We will also be linking individuals to other services in the region for help with issues that the service is unable to assist with.”
For more information, contact QAI on (07) 3844-4200 or by email
Just a question regarding the South Burnett area, would people from Blackbutt, Nanango, Kingaroy also be eligible to use this service and does it cover help with the NDIS as well?
Hi Fiona … this report is two years old. Sorry, you will have to contact Queensland Advocacy Inc directly to find out more information: (07) 3844-4200.