The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the extent to which socioeconomic adversity and mental health intersect, particularly for those most vulnerable to unemployment, financial hardship and family stress. It has also substantially impacted upon access to help for each of these issues.

The current redesign of access to mental health support and treatment provides an opportunity to offer more holistic responses to compounding issues that may otherwise continue to escalate.

Health justice partnership offers one avenue for this, by using legal help to improve client outcomes. Broadening the range of expertise in a healthcare team to include legal help supports clients to gain control of underlying stressors, such as housing, money issues and family safety.

This paper looks at how health justice partnership uses legal help to improve client outcomes, offering one avenue for more holistic responses to compounding issues around mental ill-health that may otherwise continue to escalate.