Legal Needs Arising in Mental Health Settings and Staff Capability and Support to Respond

Legal issues are known to affect and be affected by mental health. But to what extent do legal issues surface in mental health settings and what do staff feel they need to support clients experiencing these issues? These questions were explored by a national mental health service interested in the potential for health justice partnership with local community based legal services.

A survey of 999 frontline staff of a national mental health organisation. 146 staff (15%) responded from 70 service sites across Australia, including peer support workers (47%), support workers (20%), team leaders (17%) and clinicians (15%).

Staff identified a wide range of legal issues experienced by their clients (commonly referred to by staff as consumers), most commonly credit, debt and social security issues, housing, family law and family violence. Two-thirds (67%) of respondents indicated that they spent around 50% or more of their time 'responding to these types of issues'. Respondents indicated that they need more support to address legal issues facing their clients, particularly more knowledge of other services, connections with professionals in other organisations and connections with community. They also felt they could benefit from additional processes, tools, and resources, and time to manage their case load.

While there is an emerging field of research exploring the legal capability of citizens, this study explores what mental health service staff feel they need to support consumers experiencing legal issues that can interact with mental health.