Who are we?
VALS Mental Health Practice is a state-wide service and includes lawyers based in Melbourne, Gippsland, Warrnambool and Bendigo.
We are the First Nations stream of the Mental Health Legal Rights Service (“MHLRS”). This service is a partnership with Victoria Legal Aid (VLA) and the Mental Health Legal Centre (MHLC). The service model was co-designed by people with lived experience of the compulsory mental health system.
What do we do?
We represent people at the Mental Health Tribunal who are subject to compulsory treatment orders. This might involve treatment in hospital or in the community. We can also help with other civil legal problems including housing, fines, victim’s compensation, intervention orders and much more.
What is the Mental Health Tribunal (MHT)?
The MHT is an independent decision-making body that has the power to place someone on a compulsory treatment order, decide how long that order will go for (maximum 6 months) and whether treatment is in hospital or in the community.
If someone is on a treatment order, it means that their treating team has the final say in what their treatment is. Treatment orders can only be made if someone is found to have a mental illness, requires treatment to stay well, can receive treatment under an order and no less restrictive options are available.
Each hearing has three members including a lawyer, community member and psychiatrist. Hearings usually happen online and go for one hour.
Social and Emotional Wellbeing and Cultural Support
We have a dedicated social and emotional wellbeing support officer who works alongside our lawyers to ensure our clients have cultural support and are linked in with the services they need to break the cycle of compulsory treatment.
Contact
You can contact the VALS Mental Health Practice by calling (03) 9418 5920 or emailing civilparalegal@vals.org.au.
You can also call the MHLRS Helpline on 1800 849 806 from 10 am to 4 pm, Monday to Friday. This helpline is staffed by lawyers and can provide legal advice and referrals to the VALS mental health team and other services.
For more information click on the link below for the rights brochure.
How did this service come about?
The Mental Health Royal Commission in Victoria found very high rates of compulsory treatment, especially for First Nations people, as well as very low rates of legal representation. MHLRS was created to address this. The VALS stream of the service was created to provide culturally safe and trauma informed legal support for our community.