Eastern and central region

community legal clinic

transformation project
Staff Focus Group Summary
Presented at:
Oversight Committee meeting, May 12th, 2015

Demogrphics
Immigration in Durham and Orillia
Cobourg and Cornwall staff are seeing
more senior clients, with other clinics
anticipating similar increases
Peterborough noted an increase in younger
clients
Commonalities among Clients include
Mental health issues
People in crisis
Increased need across the board
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Types of Law
Biggest areas

Would like to do more

Income assistance
Housing
Employment

Human Rights
Criminal injuries
Credit counseling/debtor
law
Consumer law
Duty counsel
Wills and power of attorney
*Immigration

Family and Criminal law raised as areas of

acute need
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Strengths

Outreach
Respect, empathy and sensitivity
Teamwork
Quality service for everyone
Unique strengths

Advice
Speedy turn around
Sound financial management
Innovation
Fighting spirit
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French Services
Documentation is a challenge, often has to be
translated
Can lead to delays in service
Stressed the importance of ensuring clients
have the opportunity to express themselves in
their native language

Multiple and Complex Issues

Staff assessed that a majority or more than
half of clients have multiple legal issues and
are frequently unaware
Some clients open up, some need time to make
a connection
Lack of resources for referrals

Intake
Walk-ins and call-ins predominantly
Websites or internet portals
Referrals
Health centres
OW office
Other clinics

Trusted intermediaries at partner agencies

Mixed feelings about CMT, but an urge for
uniform system or database by case type
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Use of Technology
Staff at all clinics expressed a feeling that
technology could and should be used to improve
clinic services
Some options suggested or in-use include:
Improve phone voice mail for phone intake
Online portals help alleviate some chasing of
clients
Texting clients
Video conferencing
Portable devices for forms
Case management/efficient intake system
Clinic list serve
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Use of Technology
Weary of technology as a barrier
Clients may not have internet or computer
access, minutes on their phones etc.
Tech literacy also a challenge
Staff suggested technology should be viewed
as a supplement rather than a replacement for
in-person intake and case management

Barriers Faced by Clients

Transportation
Parking

People afraid/intimidated by the system

Signage
Lack of access to technology
Capacity
Client
Clinic

Lack of services
Lack of information
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Overcoming Barriers
Regularly updating websites with events
and information
Reach out to private practices as potential
source of referral
Partnering with neighbouring clinics to
cover rural areas
Mobile services
Satellites

Partnering with libraries for access to

technology
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Existing Partnerships
Through satellites and co-locations
Local networks, roundtables, and
councils for advocacy
Formal referral processes with agencies
Support with transit for clients from
local agencies
Health Centres, OW offices, CMHA,
Poverty Reduction Networks, Aboriginal
agency, local housing agencies
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Community-Based Services
Staff were concerned that clinics remain
strongly community based and wanted to
ensure that community connections were not
lost through transformation
It was even suggested that transformation
could and should strengthen community
connections

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Outreach and Community

Development
Staff at a number of clinics felt outreach was a
strong suit
Conducting forums for local agencies, meeting
MPs and MPPs
Advice sessions and presentations
Outreach to private lawyers for recruitment
Used to build relationships with other
agencies
Many staff also expressed an urge to do more.
It was suggested that a coordinator or 1 FTE
could be useful to this end
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Training for Staff

Staff were eager for more training
Mental health
Areas of law

They were also nervous about time

constraints
In some cases, like expanding
immigration, there was concern that
training would not be enough
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Knowledge Sharing
Staff were interested in more knowledge
sharing between clinics
Sharing tools, online forms etc.
Clinic list serve
Workshops
Share skills across clinics

Some staff also felt that their values

were different from other clinics
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Satellites
Most clinics have satellites or have had
them in the past
Generally viewed positively by staff as a
way to address lack of rural service
Closed satellites were the result of a
lack of resources, and in some cases the
location proved unnecessary

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