The Holistic Assistance and Legal Outreach (HALO) program celebrated a decade of collaboration in 2025!

Bringing together the skills and resources of lawyers and health professionals, the health justice partnership between Hume Riverina Community Legal Service (HRCLS) and Gateway Health has worked to address the intersecting health and legal problems of people experiencing multiple vulnerabilities including family violence, drug and alcohol addiction, and poor mental health, in North East Victoria.

HALO began as a pilot program in Wodonga in 2015, with one lawyer, one day per week. In July 2015 HRCLS secured further funding for an additional lawyer and expanded the program to include Wangaratta. In the first year, HALO assisted 74 clients with 130 legal services.

In response to the Black Summer bushfires that impacted our region, HALO was again expanded in 2020 to provide a collaborative response in an additional location – Myrtleford.

NLAP mental health funding enabled HALO to employ two lawyers, four days a week in 2022. The focus of HALO was on addressing the intersection of legal need and mental health (including AOD).

In 2023 in response to the growing need of young people, Headspace joined the HALO health justice partnership.

Marking 10 years of operation, HALO assisted 184 clients with 366 legal services in 2025.

HRCLS measures the impact of HALO through client and partner feedback surveys.

In 2022, 89% of HALO clients had not previously seen a lawyer about the issues they were dealing with, mainly because they thought it would be too expensive (47%), or they did not know a lawyer could help (35%).

The legal assistance provided through HALO gave people information and knowledge to take the next steps (68%), and the confidence to seek legal help in the future (74%).

“…what you do saves people – I hope you know that.”
HALO family violence client