At this year’s Institute of Public Administration Australia WA (IPAA WA) Awards we were thrilled and honoured to have our Health Justice Partnership recognised as an ‘Organisation Demonstrating Best Practice in Innovation’.

The HJP is a pilot program, funded by Department of Health (WA Health), and co designed with collaborators Goldfields Women’s Health Care Centre and Luma, as well as key personnel in Health’s Sustainable Health Implementation Service Unit. We were proud to accept this award with them.

This initiative embeds specialist women’s legal services in women’s health centres, to deliver a continuum of coordinated gender-specific, trauma informed and culturally secure programs that respond to women’s needs in the context of their whole lives. From a social model of health perspective, health issues do not occur in a vacuum, they are influenced by other factors shaping wellbeing. The aim of the HJP is to reduce the health harming aspects of legal issues.

The HJP has been independently evaluated by the the Centre for Women’s Safety and Wellbeing and Nous Group who concluded that the program is a well-designed, high-demand service that effectively meets legal and health needs, and that the pilot is already delivering on the project objectives and creating positive outcomes for women.

We are very grateful to Health for championing this innovation, and to our HJP service delivery partners, as well as the incredible staff who deliver the services every day that enhance women’s access to justice, recovery and wellbeing.