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Halton Community Legal Services leading the way On April 1, nine southwest Ontario legal-aid clinics will join a pilot project for the Legal Health CheckUp, an innovative tool created by Colleen Sym, executive director of Halton Community Legal Services in Georgetown. Online and hardcopy survey The Legal Health Check-Up is an online and hardcopy survey that reveals unrecognized legal problems that commonly occur in the lives of people living in poverty. The Check-Up will be used with clients by the nine clinics and their social service intermediaries. By answering the CheckUp questions, clients can discover their problems, have legal solutions and get help before those problems become a crisis. Through getting legal help, clients may avoid ill health, evictions, relationship break-ups and other consequences that happen in crisis. Regional pilot projects for the Legal Health Check-Up, an online or paper survey that assists people living in poverty to identify common legal problems, will rollout at the nine clinics on April 1. Each clinic partners with local social service and community intermediaries who use the survey to identify their clients' unmet legal needs and connect them with the clinic. The survey can also be done online independently, or directly through the clinic. Participating clinics Participating clinics include the Chatham-Kent Legal Clinic, Community Legal Assistance Sarnia, Elgin Oxford Legal Clinic, Huron-Perth Community Legal Clinic, Justice Niagara, Legal Assistance of Windsor, Neighbourhood Legal Services London and Middlesex, Waterloo Region Community Legal Services and the WindsorEssex Bilingual Legal Clinic. The new projects follow a successful initial pilot at Halton Community Legal Services in Georgetown led by executive director and Check-Up creator Colleen Sym. Halton pilot The Halton pilot was followed by expansion to the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic, Legal Clinic of Guelph and Wellington County, and Brant Haldimand and Norfolk Community Legal Clinic. Representatives from the nine clinics met for an orientation and projectplanning meeting at the McMaster Innovation Centre in Hamilton on Jan. 29. Sym told participants the Check-Up is designed not to be replicated but adapted to,the local needs of each clinic's clients. "It is intended to help us do different work, not just do regular work differently,'"said Sym. "The Check-Up is a needs assessment tool to identify problems people would not otherwise come forward with. It lets them talk about what issues are affecting them most or are most important to them." Key part of transformation The Legal Health CheckUp is a key component of Legal Aid Ontario's South West Transformation Project. Clinic-led initiatives will improve how southwestern clinics deliver services and support collaboration and innovation. Each clinic will evaluate its pilot at the end of the project on March 31, 2017. The Legal Health CheckUp project is funded by Legal Aid Ontario. For more information, visit www. legalhealthcheckup.ca. 5 | Thursday, March 10, 2016 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com | graphic courtesy Halton Community Legal Services CONCEPT LIGHTING group sale on now entire store installation Take 24 We are the region's best lighting store - latest lighting designs at exclusive pricing! INJURED? I Can Help! YOU DON'T HAVE TO PAY UNLESS I GET YOU MONEY My team of experienced lawyers can help you with: · Car accidents · Slip and Falls · Disability Claims (Short-Term Disability, Long-Term Disability, CPP) · Wrongful Dismissal OFFICES IN OAKVILLE AND TORONTO For a free consultation call: Oakville: 905.842.2022 or Toronto: 416.351.9222 email: sspadafora@slspc.ca PLATINUM on sale monThs no downpayment no interest* *Some conditions apply. See store for details. To pay Oakville 243 Speers Road 905.849.LITE(5483) Visit our website to see our fall & winter catalogue Burlington 1515 N. Service Road 905.331.7444 Between Guelph Line & Brant Street Mississauga 5980 McLaughlin Rd. #3 905.712.4548 Sam Spadafora Injury and Employment Law w w w. c o n c e p t l i g h t i n g . c a