The Drug Outreach Program continued to evolve and adapt to meet the clients needs despite the uncertainty of funding over the last 12 months.

Transcription

1 Drug Outreach Program The Drug Outreach Program continued to evolve and adapt to meet the clients needs despite the uncertainty of funding over the last 12 months. Legal services are provided to drug and alcohol users via the utilisation of an outreach model that is holistic in its approach. The Drug Outreach Lawyer attends six agencies on a weekly basis. These agencies are places at which drug and alcohol users are already attending for drug and/or alcohol detoxification and rehabilitation, and assistance with homelessness. These outreach sessions are undertaken at: The Windana Society, The Bridge Salvation Army, Sacred Heart Mission, Galiamble Aboriginal Men s Recovery Centre, Hanover Southbank, Health Time at The Gatwick, and Inner South Community Health Centre at 10 Inkerman Street (incorporating Hussling to Health, Mobile Health Outreach Service, Community Connections and Resourcing Health and Education in the Sex Industry). Although appointments are encouraged at these outreach clinics, an opportunistic approach to seeing clients is maintained. This opportunistic approach has the benefit of ensuring that potential clients, who otherwise would not access the legal support because of their chaotic lifestyles, are provided with accessible, efficient and approachable legal services. All the outreach locations are extremely busy. One of the outreach locations that has experienced the most noticeable shift in attendance is Galiamble Men s Recovery Centre. This Centre is for Aboriginal men who have drug and alcohol problems. These men come from all over Victoria, with a large number coming from the Mildura/Wentworth and Deniliquin areas. As a result the Drug Outreach Lawyer has been required to cross jurisdictions into New South Wales. Fortunately the Drug Outreach Lawyer has been able to forge helpful and friendly working relationships with the Redfern Aboriginal Legal Service and Griffith Aboriginal Legal Service. The Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS) has been able to assistance in relation to Victorian matters, but this has been on a limited basis only due to ongoing VALS funding issues. The legal services provided through the Drug Outreach Program include advice, casework, advocacy and referral mainly in the areas of criminal, family, fines/perin, Victims of Crime and discrimination law. Some of the casework has required the Drug Outreach Lawyer s appearance in the County Court in relation to a bail variation application, a number of appearances at the Family Court of Australia, a number of conciliation conferences at the Equal Opportunity Commission and mediations with the Roman Catholic Church in relation to alleged abuse issues. The Drug Outreach Lawyer has maintained a presence in the continuing development of the Street Sex Workers List held on the first Tuesday of each month at the Melbourne Magistrates Court. The outreach service at Inner South Community Health Centre (RhED) continues each Thursday night, and so ensuring that street sex workers will be able to access a lawyer they already know at court. This process also assists in familiarising the lawyers with the clients circumstances and preparation for court attendances. An evaluation of this specialist list is currently 25 St Kilda Legal Service Annual Report

2 being undertaken by Murray Couch from the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health & Society, La Trobe University.. The following data has been generated from a database specifically set up to record demographic details of all client of the drug outreach program for the period 1/7/ /6/2004. Number of Drug Outreach Clients by Age group and Gender July June Age Group Unknown Gender "41-50 "51-60 "61-70 "10-15 "21-25 Female 33% "26-30 "31-40 Male 67% Number of Drug outreach Clients by Outreach Location: July 2003 June2004 Hanover Southbank Emergency Accommodation Inner South Community Health (10 Inkerman Street, St Kilda) 44 The Windana Society 42 Galiamble Mens Recovery Centre The Bridge 28 Sacred Heart Mission 24 The Gatwick Rooming House Vehicle Outreach with Mobile Health 6 Layfield Street Rooming House 5 Telephone Contact St. Kilda Legal Centre 2 St. Kilda Youth Service 2 Hanover Women s 1 Crisis Centre St Kilda Legal Service Annual Report

3 Number Of Drug Outreach Client by Legal Issue: July 2003 June 2004 Property Offences Family Law Fines/ PERIN Drug Offences Bail/Warrants/ Breaches of CBO/IVO Drive/ traffic offences Debt owed by client Victims of Crime Offences against the person Child Protection Intervention Orders Personal Injury/TAC Employment Law Wills/Estate Police/Prison Complaint Discrimination Guardianship Number Of Drug Outreach Client by Type of Service Required July 2003 June 2004 Case Open 155 Advice Only Service Promotion/ Rapport Building Agency Advice 6 Referral Out 3 27 St Kilda Legal Service Annual Report

4 Drug Outreach Case Studies Tom Tom was charged with going through a red light and driving whilst disqualified. A collision with another vehicle resulted. The sun was in Tom s eyes at the time of the accident and he did not see the red light. There was significant property damage sustained to the vehicles and minor injuries to the other driver. Tom s licence had been disqualified following a drink driving charge. He had been seeking assistance for alcohol problems from a local agency. Alcohol was recorded on his breath following the accident but he was not over the limit. Tom was a shift worker and was anxious not to incur a further disqualification of his licence. On the day of the accident he was driving in the early morning when he overslept following an evening shift the night before. Tom was advised that driving whilst disqualified is a strict liability offence. Amanda obtained the police brief and briefed the VLA duty lawyer to appear on Tom s behalf for a guilty plea. Tom was very pleased not to receive a further disqualification to his licence. He was required to pay a fine, restitution and costs, with a 3 month stay on all payments. A nice finishing touch to the file was Tom s note of thanks to Amanda for all her assistance. to the VLA duty lawyer to appear for a guilty plea for these consolidated matters. At the time the matter was referred to VLA, Marissa was receiving drug and alcohol counselling, additional parenting support, and was living in transitional housing through a local housing organisation. Our lawyers worked with these agency lawyers, obtaining supporting reports from them. Lack of money was the reason she sited for a number of these offences; when advanced in her pregnancy Marissa was picked up on at least one occasion. Marissa was referred to the C.R.E.D.I.T. program operating in the Magistrates Court. This program aims to assist people on bail who have a drug problem access specialist assessment, support and treatment services. When Marissa returned for assistance with further shop theft offences. Postnatal depression was cited at this point as another factor in her reasons for committing these offences. In line with Marissa s first matter, four separate requests for police briefs were required, four court adjournments were required, and the duty lawyer was briefed twice. The outcome of the latter charges is not recorded. In line with the transient nature of this client group, Marissa moved on to obtain the services of another local solicitor. Marissa Marissa has a past history of drug use and prostitution. She has a baby girl and has not used drugs or prostituted since the birth of her baby. We have assisted Marissa with two matters to date. The first was for a number of loiter charges and shop theft. The matter was referred St Kilda Legal Service Annual Report

5 Street Sex Worker List Pilot Project Melbourne Magistrates Court A collaborative of a number of organizations (including St. Kilda Legal Service; Melbourne Magistrates Court; St Kilda Police; Melbourne Prosecutions; CREDIT bail programme, Arrest Referral Service Inner South Community Health; Victoria Legal Aid; City of Port Phillip; and Rhed) designed a special mention list, specifically for street sex workers (SSW s) charged with loiter for prostitution and associated drug related offences based on the results of a survey conducted by the Drug Outreach Lawyer and the Arrest Referral Service. This list operates at the Melbourne Magistrates Court on the first Tuesday of every month at 2pm before Her Worship Ms Popovic M, a Magistrate who is sympathetic to the needs and issues pertaining to SSW s. The rationale behind the list is to increase Court attendance rates of SSW s, with a view to linking them in with services to improve their health and welfare, and ultimately reduce their offending behaviour. Furthermore, it is to avoid fines being imposed in the absence of the SSW s which they invariably don t pay, and often eventually convert to gaol sentences. If they have been bailed to appear at Court and don t attend, it results in charges of failing to answer bail, which can also lead to remands in custody or gaol terms. A criminal lawyer for St Kilda Legal Service attends the specialist list to represent clients that have sought assistance from the Legal Service through the weekly outreach service to RhED (10 Inkerman St). There is an increased likelihood of court attendance if there is a preexisting relationship with a lawyer who will provide court representation. Clients are supported at Court by case workers from a range of organizations with whom they are engaged (for example RhED, Hanover Southbank and Salvation Army Crisis Centre). The workers provide emotional support, letters to the Court and may be called upon to give evidence. Representatives from the CREDIT bail programme are also available to make referrals or join people up to the programme. Once on CREDIT bail, SSW s are linked in with drug rehabilitation, counselling and employment services; and are also supervised by CREDIT clinicians on a weekly or fortnightly basis. This provides enormous support and incentive, as successful completion of the CREDIT programme results in substantially reduced penalties. The pilot has been operating for almost a year now, with the Legal Service providing court representation for SSWs at all ten sessions, on average 4 clients represented at each session. The pilot is being independently evaluated and the evaluators have been privy to the debriefing sessions held at the conclusion of the list. The consensus so far, is that the list has been extremely effective in getting people to Court. It is too early at this stage to assess whether getting SSW s to Court impacts on their drug usage or re offending. However, therapeutic alliances formed through CREDIT and having matters finalised will clearly benefit SSW s by alleviating stress caused by constant fines and outstanding warrants. 29 St Kilda Legal Service Annual Report

6 Case Studies from clients represented at the Street Sex worker Court sessions. Julie Julie is a 40 year old woman who has been using heroin on and off since she was 15 years of age. When she was 14, and living as a ward of the state, she was raped. She started using heroin to cope with the trauma. She didn t receive any counselling for the rape. She started working as a street sex worker at the age of 20. She now has 2 children and is no longer working. She attended the Street Sex Worker (SSW) Court in relation to charges of loiter (for prostitution) and possess weapon charges which dated back to She agreed to make an appointment with the counsellor from SECASA who was present at Court (South Eastern Centre Against Sexual Assault) and her matters were adjourned to the next SSW Court session, so that her progress could be monitored. She appeared on the next occasion, having attended the counselling session (and having expressed a desire to continue with counselling). All of her charges were dealt with by the Court (including the weapon charges) and found proved and dismissed (ie no penalty was recorded). Andy Andy is 22 years old. She has been using heroin since she was 18 and has never engaged in drug rehabilitation. She has been working as a street sex worker for 4 years. She attended the SSW Court in relation to 3 charges of loiter for prostitution. She requested to be referred to the CREDIT programme (a court supervised drug and alcohol rehabilitation programme for non violent offenders who are on bail). Her matter was adjourned to the next SSW Court and she was placed on CREDIT bail. She did extremely well on CREDIT, having been referred to a Doctor for buprenorphine and a counsellor to address her underlying issues. Having complied with the conditions of her bail, she ultimately pleaded guilty to all charges and received a 3 month adjourned undertaking without conviction (ie a good behaviour bond). She had numerous prior convictions for loiter, however, she had never attended Court and had received numerous fines for matters dealt with in her absence. She consented to the undertaking, stating that she was no longer using or working. St Kilda Legal Service Annual Report