The Mental Health Legal Centre provides a free and confidential legal service to anyone who has experienced mental illness in Victoria where their legal problem relates to their mental illness.
All centre activities aim to promote the rights of people who experience mental illness. The Centre is a non-profit organisation run by an independent Committee of Management.
The Mental Health Legal Centre is part of a network of Community Legal Centres located throughout Victoria and Australia. Community Legal Centres provide a three-tiered approach to the law, through casework, community legal education and law reform/policy.
If you are a person with a mental illness, we may be able to assist you with legal advice and/or casework in the following areas, provided the legal issue relates directly to your mental illness:
- Child protection matters in the children’s court
- Complaints about the mental health system, involuntary detention and treatment under the Mental Health Act
- Compaints about health providers or other complaints relating to your mental illness
- Complaints about police or protective services officers (advice only)
- Criminal matters – summary crime (eg. traffic offences, property damage, theft) where your mental illness is relevant to the alleged offence
- Family law disputes about children (eg. contact, residency)
- Forensic mental health matters (eg. under the Crimes Mental Impairment and Unfitness to be Tried Act 1988)
- Freedom of information (eg. accessing and correcting information on your clinical file)
- Guardianship and administration orders
- Human rights and discrimination relating to mental illness
- Infringements / fines – where your mental illness contributed to the alleged offence
- Mental Health Act (eg. your rights as an involuntary patient under the Mental Health Act, and restrictive interventions such as electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) and restraint and seclusion)
- Mental Health Review Board (including legal representation for people on community treatment orders (CTOs) – see below for more information)
- Privacy and confidentiality
- Powers of attorney and advance directives
Telephone advice line is open:
Tuesday to Friday: 9am-12pm and 2pm-5pm
