Better health and justice for vulnerable youth

The program will build on a successful partnership of community organisations established over three years ago in Ballarat.

The partnership currently self funds a part-time lawyer to provide legal assistance to over 200 young people annually.

We seek funding to enable us to respond to a huge demand from practitioners such as health workers, social workers and teachers for the knowledge and advice they need to better assist young people and their families.

The funding will build their knowledge & practice to better assist young people , increase access to legal advice and bring more partner contributions.

This project will assist the community by reducing the incidence of negative impacts that result when young people do not receive the assistance they need to overcome health and legal difficulties.

These impacts include substance abuse, mental ill-health, ongoing involvement in the criminal justice system, spiraling debts and being a victim of abuse.

Research conducted in parallel with the project will measure the benefits of facilitating early intervention and raising awareness of the impact of legal issues on the health and wellbeing of regional youth.

The findings will be shared with community organisations in the region & interested stakeholders.