Health Justice Legal Support & Advocacy
Multicultural Advocacy Legal Service (MALS)
A health justice partnership between Caxton Legal Centre Inc and World Wellness Group. It brings together lawyers, advocates and health professionals to achieve collaborative, culturally appropriate and trauma informed legal support for people needing help accessing positive justice outcomes.
How can MALS help me?
The Multicultural Advocacy and Legal Service (MALS) is a legal support service for people from multicultural backgrounds whose mental health is impacted by legal challenges.
MALS approaches each unique client situation with sensitivity and empathy, acknowledging and respecting their unique cultural background and experiences.
If you, or a client of yours, is facing a legal issue, you can contact our MALS lawyer or advocate to discuss your concerns. All conversations are kept confidential, and no action will be taken without our client’s consent.
The MALS program has two workers, a lawyer and a legal navigator. Our MALS staff will use interpreters, and multicultural peer support workers where necessary to ensure clients understand their rights and options.
Our MALS lawyer specialises in general law matters, ranging from family and domestic violence law, workplace legal issues, to human rights and anti-discrimination legal issues, and consumer and credit law.
In addition, our MALS advocate can provide further advocacy, support and navigation to relevant internal Caxton and World Wellness Group services and external services.
The legal advice you receive from our lawyer is free and confidential.
Who can MALS help?
MALS provides support to people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in the Brisbane region whose mental health and well-being are impacted by legal challenges. No additional eligibility criteria are required to receive our assistance.
New clients can directly contact us, or support services can refer clients to us on their behalf.
Contact us
Service providers can use a referral form which is available here.
You can contact the MALS team lawyer and advocate on 1800 861 997. You can also email them at MALSTeam@caxton.org.au.
The MALS lawyer and advocate are available to make home visits.
Health Justice Projects
In 2018, World Wellness Group launched a pioneering Health Justice program that embedded legal advocacy, advice and representation, within our multidisciplinary health service. Since 2021 we have delivered Health Justice in partnership with Caxton Legal Centre. We have found that legal problems and lack of access to justice are key underlying factors, compounding social disadvantage and poor health. Via legal assistance we have demonstrated the large positive impact that can be achieved by helping clients to understand the legal matters confronting them. This is within a framework of wrap-around support for their health and mental health issues. Despite many health and legal accomplishments, significant gaps persist within Australia's legal system, posing challenges to accessible and affordable support. Because of this, we continue our Health Justice journey!
Health Justice Accelerator Project
World Wellness Group in Partnership with Caxton Legal Centre has been funded by the Qld Community Foundation (QCF) to deliver the Health Justice Accelerator Project. The key objective of this project is to support the Health Justice Partnership Network in Queensland to build capacity for data-driven impact storytelling and collective advocacy, as well as engage members of Parliament, philanthropists, and key members of the health and legal sector to learn more about HJPs and their impact. To achieve this WWG and CLC in collaboration with the Qld HJP Network will host an exciting Health Justice Symposium on February 29th 2024 at Parliament House.
Health Justice Multilingual Resources
World Wellness Group has received a grant from the Australian Communities Foundation (ACF) to help our clients build skills and confidence by equipping them with knowledge of their rights as they navigate the immigration system largely unsupported. We are developing multilingual information and resources. Our approach encompasses legal empowerment, capacity-building and training.
Multicultural Financial Protections Capacity Building Project
World Wellness Group in partnership with Caxton Legal Centre received a grant from the Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs to raise awareness and help protect multicultural communities from unethical and risky financial practices. The aim of the project is to develop culturally appropriate training, resources and referral pathways to community leaders and agencies working with people who are new arrivals, asylum seekers and senior migrants. We have developed some translated help sheets in Tamil, Swahili and Simplified Chinese providing information on:
- Informal loan systems ( The Middlemen)
- Community lending and rotating systems (The Moneychain)
- Investment systems (Pyramid Schemes)
- Knowhow for paying fines, and the State Penalties Enforcement Registry (SPER)
Contact us
For more information email: healthjustice@worldwellnessgroup.org.au
Acknowledgement
The Multicultural Advocacy and Legal Service is funded by the Queensland Department of Justice and Attorney-General.
Caxton Legal Centre and World Wellness Group have partnered to co-design and co-deliver MALS in response to the increased demand for specialist services to support members of the multicultural community who are experiencing both mental health and legal issues in Queensland. MALS endeavors to break down barriers to legal support and increase access to justice.
