Case study: Service integration
Jeremy is homeless and sleeping on the street and in the local parks at night. He was recently discharged from a 3 month stay in the local hospital's psychiatric ward after an acute episode of his mental illness. Jeremy has no money and loses his medication when moving from place the place looking for somewhere to sleep. He is becoming unwell again.
During Jeremy's time in hospital his landlord applied to the Tribunal for an order to have Jeremy evicted from his apartment for not paying his rent. A hearing date has been set.
The local community mental health worker John and a community lawyer Janice visited the local park where Jeremy has been sleeping. During their chat with Jeremy, he disclosed that he was feeling unwell again and that he could no longer go home to his apartment.
John discussed with Jeremey the need to take his medication regularly and arranged for medication to be delivered to the park for Jeremy. Janice told Jeremy that he had a tenancy matter before the Tribunal. She arranged for the Tribunal hearing to be adjourned until Jeremy could receive legal advice and be represented by a lawyer at the Tribunal.
In your answer to Questions 1 and 2 below please refer to the required reading:
Reading 1 (Week 1 in Moodle): Kennedy, R., Richards, J., & Leiman, T. (2016). Law and human services: together and apart. In R, Kennedy, J. Richards, & T. Leiman (Eds.), Integrating Human Service Law, Ethics and Practice (4th ed., pp. 19-42). Oxford University Press Australia.
Q1. Discuss the benefits to Jeremy of an integrated service compared to Jeremy having access to mental health and legal services separately?
In your answer to Question 3 below please refer to the required reading:
Reading 2 (Week 2 in Moodle): Forell, S and Nagy, M. (2021). Health justice insights: health justice partnership as a response to domestic and family violence, Health Justice Australia Inc, Sydney.
Q2. Identify and describe three common features of a health justice partnership as a response to domestic and family violence?