General Legal Advice

About General Legal Advice

MHLC offers free legal advice over the phone on a range of matters to mental health consumers.

Please call (03) 9629 4422 to speak to a member of our intake team. Our telephone line is open Monday to Friday from 9 am to 4:30 pm.

The intake worker will take down brief details of your matter. This will then be passed onto the legal team and a lawyer will call you back to provide advice.

Please note that advice is only available to Victorian mental health consumers for their own matters. We accept initial referrals from third parties but legal advice will be provided to the client.

What we can assist with

If you require assistance with any of the following matters we may be able to assist you by providing legal advice and, in some instances advocacy and casework.

Your rights as an involuntary patient in hospital or in the community under the Mental Health and Wellbeing Act (2022), or as a voluntary patient at risk of being placed on a compulsory treatment order
Restrictive interventions such as electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) and restraint and seclusion
Mental Health Tribunal hearings
Complaints about the mental health system, involuntary detention and treatment under the Mental Health and Wellbeing Act (2022)

Complaints about health providers or other complaints relating to your mental illness
Complaints about police or protective services officers responding to mental health care and control matters
Freedom of information, eg. accessing and correcting information on your clinical file
Guardianship and administration orders
Powers of attorney and advance directives

What we can’t assist with

We are unable to provide legal advice or advocacy on the following issues, however we will endeavour to ensure you are provided with an appropriate referral:

Business/ commercial disputes
Insurance, bankruptcy and debt
Disability discrimination
Infringements and fines
Tenancy
Victims of crime financial assistance scheme
Employment law

Personal injury
Wills and Estates
Family Violence and Personal Safety Intervention Orders
Family Law
Migration Law
Criminal Law

Still have more questions?

Feel free to send us a message via email to mhlc@mhlc.org.au or phone us on (03) 9629 4422 if you have more questions.

Mental HealthLegal Centre