Our CLE Team in NQ participate in the ‘Everyday Legal Training for Frontline Workers’ event

Our Community Legal Education staff in North Queensland participated in the ‘Everyday Legal Training for Frontline Workers’ CLE event in May, coordinated by LawRight and hosted by James Cook University in Cairns.

This full-day event saw presentations from LawRight, ATSILS, North Queensland Women’s Legal Service, Cairns Community Legal Centre and Basic Rights Qld. Kimberly Thornley and Paige Ryan of ATSILS presented sessions to the group of 70 frontline support workers on the topics of ‘Rights and Respect in the Workplace’ and ‘Supporting families with child protection matters’. Other sessions included legal options for victim-survivors of violence, debt solutions for people in financial hardship, effectively interacting with Centrelink and legal protections for people who buy a lemon car.

The purpose of this CLE event was to provide a series of in-person presentations and smaller workshops designed to provide specialist, practical training to help frontline workers navigate the complex legal systems impacting the people they support. Attendees on the day included staff from local and nearby regional services such as various neighbourhood centres, Anglicare, Relationships Australia, DFV support workers and counsellors, social workers, homelessness support workers and JCU students seeking to broaden their knowledge. This event provided a great opportunity for services to collaborate through CLE delivery and facilitated active audience participation and discussion. The team had a great day and thoroughly enjoyed taking part and sharing knowledge with all in attendance.