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Training and awareness-raising

It was proposed that some of the barriers raised in this chapter might be addressed by providing training on mental health issues to those legal service providers who have clients with a mental illness. Training could include how to communicate effectively with people with a mental illness, what their needs are, what it is like to have a mental illness, indicators of mental illness, referral and resource information, strategies to work effectively with people with a mental illness, stress management and general awareness-raising in order to combat stigma and discrimination.¹³⁷ A number of stakeholders suggested that legal service providers would benefit greatly from training on mental health issues.¹³⁸

I think lawyers could be greatly assisted by training [to better] understand mental illness, or different types of mental illness.¹³⁹

A disability awareness trainer made the further suggestion that training on mental illness could also be provided to law students at university.¹⁴⁰ This is supported by Lee.¹⁴¹

A number of legal service providers (including Legal Aid and various CLCs) provide training on mental illness to their solicitors. For example:

• The Combined Community Legal Centres Group (NSW) Inc has organised sessions at past conferences on dealing with people with behavioural problems;¹⁴²
• The NSW Statewide Community and Court Liaison Service has given talks to Legal Aid and the Law Society of NSW on how to identify mental illness;¹⁴³
• Legal Aid provides one-day workshops run by a social worker to its staff on dealing with people who have a mental illness;¹⁴⁴
• The Legal Information Access Centre provides training to staff on dealing with people who have a mental illness;¹⁴⁵
• The Law Society of NSW provides a training session for its staff in the community referral service about clients with a mental illness;¹⁴⁶
• The Family Court provides training for its internal mediators about clients with a mental illness. It is also piloting a suicide prevention program which will be evaluated in June 2006 and a mental health education program in Adelaide which aims to educate court staff about working with and supporting clients with a mental illness. Negotiations are underway to provide similar training in all Family Courts around Australia.¹⁴⁷