About Session
Session Description:
Learn about the new Community Justice Worker Project housed within Montana Legal Services Association and how lay advocates can advise and assist Montanans to expand access to justice. For many new families, the stress of “life problems” can be daunting while preparing for and adjusting to having new babies. These issues can escalate if they do not have access to legal advocacy. Ignoring legal issues only means they get bigger and the stress on families can become insurmountable. In Montana we are creating a cadre of folks already engaged in front line community caregiver work to become trained specialists within specific legal issues. We will never have enough lawyers to bridge the justice gap, but embedded lay advocates will be boots on the ground representatives for housing, consumer debt, interpersonal violence, and Medicaid legal problems. Come learn more about this exciting program and maybe realize you are the legal advocate your community has been needing.
Learning Objectives:
- Participants will understand this exciting new legal role and its potential for their clients and communities.
- Identify if their organization may be interested in receiving CJW training.
- Understand more about how many “life problems” are actually legal issues and how the early intervention by care workers can often prevent legal issues from escalating and costing new families in both money and emotional well-being.
