Dr Tessa Boyd-Caine was the founding CEO of Health Justice Australia. Originally a criminologist, she has worked in health, criminal justice and human rights organisations in Australia and internationally.
The most exciting part of my work over the first 4 months of our establishment has been speaking with people and organisations working in health justice partnerships around Australia. Discussing what people want from the national centre for health justice partnership through that engagement has informed the development of several strategic priorities for Health Justice Australia:
1. Setting best practice
There is a strong desire for a national evidence base about what health justice partnerships can achieve; and how best to ensure their effectiveness. Our research agenda should include an evaluation framework that assists health justice partnerships to demonstrate their effectiveness through accountable, measurable outcomes; drive best practice as something we are all constantly working towards; and enable Health Justice Australia to talk about outcomes in health, justice and partnerships across Australia, informed by what you see in your daily work in communities.
2. Shared resources
Reflecting the partnership ethos at work, organisations already working in health justice partnerships are keen to support colleagues and communities establishing new health justice partnerships; and those interested in establishing this approach want to learn from colleagues who’ve gone before. Based on the evidence of best practice, Health Justice Australia should develop a range of resources to support health justice partnerships, like:
| Template partnership agreements between health and justice agencies | Helping lawyers and health workers understand each other’s language |
| How to navigate lawyer-client (professional) privilege | Understanding mandatory reporting requirements |
3. Systemic advocacy
One of the central tenets of health justice partnerships is their commitment to systemic change to improve health, justice and wellbeing. Systemic change should be a key focus for Health Justice Australia too, so that we provide a strong voice on systemic factors that drive poor health outcomes and reduce access to justice and the best ways to address them.
I want to hear from you! Do you have examples we can build on in these three areas? Are there other things you’d like to see us focus on? Tell us what you think about these strategic priorities.
As Health Justice Australia continues through the early stages of establishment, we are aiming to build a national centre that is useful to people and organisations working in health justice partnerships; and most importantly that supports better health and justice outcomes. Please let me know how best you think we can do that – and how you would like to work with us to ensure our effectiveness.
Tessa Boyd-Caine, CEO
