Supporting our staff

* Under the Government Sector Employment Act 2013 (NSW)

Legal Aid NSW was chosen from among NSW government agencies as an ideal site for research on the ability of frontline staff to work with clients in distress and at risk of suicide, and from which to investigate potential supports for vulnerable members of our community.

The resulting report, Compassion as the Default, detailed ways staff currently support clients and additional methods, tools and resources that could be used to continue this work. A Compassionate Response Guide was developed and tested with clients and is now available for use by all staff across Legal Aid NSW.

Research from Legal Aid NSW has informed further work on suicide prevention practices for frontline staff in non-health roles across the NSW Government sector.

Legal Aid NSW has committed to be a ‘behaviour smart’ organisation, establishing a partnership with the Behavioural Insights Unit at Customer Service NSW to give four Legal Aid NSW staff the opportunity to attend an immersive six-month learning program.

These staff work on a Legal Aid NSW project that involves behaviour change. Projects include increasing successful grant applications, increasing compliance with youth bail, reducing no-shows for legal aid advice appointments, and increasing engagement with the Drug Court post-sentencing.

A monthly Behavioural Insights Community of Practice was established for Legal Aid NSW staff as a chance to learn behavioural insights principles, hear about case studies where behavioural insights were used to improve services to clients, apply and practise using techniques, and discuss ideas about where and how we could use behavioural insights in our organisation.

• We will continue to support our staff to provide outstanding customer service.