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Research Report: On the edge of justice: the legal needs of people with a mental illness
Executive Summary
Foreword
Shortened forms
Ch 1. Introduction
Ch 2. Methodology
Ch 3. Legal issues
Ch 4. Barriers to accessing legal assistance
Individual barriers to accessing legal assistance
Lack of awareness of legal rights
Being disorganised
Being overwhelmed
Mistrust of service providers
Difficult behaviour
Communication problems
Lack of mental health care and treatment
Systemic barriers to seeking legal assistance
Suggestions to increase the accessibility of legal services to people with a mental illness
Summary
Ch 5. Participation in the legal system
Ch 6. Non-legal support
Ch 7. Discussion and conclusion
References
Appendices
Acknowledgements
Access to justice and legal needs research program: Terms of reference
Publishing details
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On the edge of justice: the legal needs of people with a mental illness (2006) Cite this report

Ch 4. Barriers to accessing legal assistance

Individual barriers to accessing legal assistance

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Lack of mental health care and treatment


The impact of the above barriers on those people with a mental illness who receive appropriate mental health care and treatment might be reduced. Three stakeholders and one participant indicated that if a person is taking appropriate medication, and/or receiving appropriate support or treatment, they may be more stable and therefore better able to access a legal service provider.57 For example:

    If they are not functional, that’s where it is serious disadvantage. If they are on medication then they are well controlled, then their functionality might be good. And you can tell them all these things and their access to justice is OK. Versus someone who just got out of a psych hospital and can’t even get out of their chair.58

The reported crisis in mental health care in NSW is likely to reduce the chances of many people with a mental illness to receive the treatment and care they need to access and communicate with legal service providers.59

Interview no. 25 (taken from the Foundations study into homeless people). Also consultations with solicitor, CCLC, August 2004, manager, Centrelink, June 2004, investigation officer, NSW Ombudsman, September 2004. See also CCLC NSW, Submission to the Senate Select Committee on Mental Health, p. 8.
Consultation with solicitor, CCLC, August 2004.
For example, the Select Committee on Mental Health, in Mental Health Services in NSW: Final Report, refers to endemic problems in the provision of mental heath services (p. 15). The MHCA, in Not for Service refers to the crumbling mental health care system (p. iii). See also HREOC, Human Rights and Mental Illness. Also case study 1617 taken from Coumarelos et al, Justice Made to Measure.
57  Interview no. 25 (taken from the Foundations study into homeless people). Also consultations with solicitor, CCLC, August 2004, manager, Centrelink, June 2004, investigation officer, NSW Ombudsman, September 2004. See also CCLC NSW, Submission to the Senate Select Committee on Mental Health, p. 8.
58  Consultation with solicitor, CCLC, August 2004.
59  For example, the Select Committee on Mental Health, in Mental Health Services in NSW: Final Report, refers to endemic problems in the provision of mental heath services (p. 15). The MHCA, in Not for Service refers to the crumbling mental health care system (p. iii). See also HREOC, Human Rights and Mental Illness. Also case study 1617 taken from Coumarelos et al, Justice Made to Measure.


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Karras, M, McCarron, E, Gray, A & Ardasinski, S 2006, On the edge of justice: the legal needs of people with a mental illness in NSW, Law and Justice Foundation of NSW, Sydney