Just Healthy Families (JHF) is a Health Justice Partnership that embeds free legal help into health and social service settings with the aim of reducing family violence for all Tasmanians.

It is a collaboration between Women’s Legal Service Tasmania (WLST) and Tasmania Legal Aid (TLA) in partnership with the Child Health and Parenting Service (CHAPS), Child and Family Learning Centres (CFLC) and Hobart Women’s Shelter (HWS). It is funded for two years until December 2024.

What is a Health Justice Partnership and why do we need it? 

Health Justice Partnerships involve legal services working with health and social services to streamline early access to legal help. One in five of the most disadvantaged in our community take no action in response to their legal problems for a range of reasons including stress, time, cost, fear or not realising it is a legal problem. Living in regional and remote areas is also a barrier. When people do seek help, they are more likely to ask a trusted non-legal professional, such as a health or community service provider.

Co-locating the JHF legal service in the health service and social service creates an opportunity for early legal invention by making legal services accessible and more responsive. JHF lawyers also provide training for the health and social service staff on how to recognise, respond and refer people experiencing family violence, increasing the opportunities for appropriate support and assistance.

What JHF lawyers do

JFH lawyers provide legal information and advice about a range of legal issues, including family violence, family law, tenancy and child protection issues.

The primary focus of JHF is to assist people to intervene early in family violence situations. We also provide referrals to TLA for men who are perpetrators or experiencing family violence.

The JHF lawyers attend health and social service sites on a regular basis as agreed with the individual service. We provide face to face legal information, advice and assistance to clients, and where appropriate, assist with referrals to other services.

JHF lawyers work with strong legal teams at WLST and TLA to ensure that our clients are well supported if they require ongoing legal services.

Our lawyers are available by phone, email and remote video communications.  Clients can make appointments by contacting the lawyer directly or can be referred by the health or social service provider they are visiting.

Our range of legal services include:

• Legal advice, legal tasks, referral and advocacy
• Family Violence Orders
• Restraint Orders
• Family law advice and assistance with referral to family dispute resolution services
• Tenancy issues
• Victims of crime compensation

Secondary Consultation

JHF provides a secondary consultation service. This means that if you are a service provider with a client who you think might need legal assistance, you can contact our lawyers and seek their opinion about how they may be able to help your client.

Community Legal Education

An important part of our service is building the knowledge and skills of health and social services staff to respond to family violence. We provide training and community legal education to service providers about family violence and legal options for families facing violence.

Our lawyers can talk with you about a range of issues, including:

• violence in your home or family life
• contact with Child Safety Services
• separation from a partner or spouse
• lack of control over your money
• tenancy or housing problems

JHF lawyers are based in the South, North and North West of Tasmania.

then dial (1) for the South, (2) for the North and (3) for the North West.