'Come to us first': The legal literacy program providing a helping hand

The Legal Literacy Volunteer (LLV) program is a non-profit organisation run by the Launceston Community Legal Centre (LCLC) aiming to provide free legal advice to the community in a variety of areas.

LCLC CEO Stephen Karpeles said a benefit of the program's model is being able to "draw on the expertise of other lawyers and advocates in the office".

"We are fortunate to have practitioners with significant expertise in their field, such as welfare rights, employment law and family law," Mr Karpeles said.

The program recruits and trains non-legal volunteers in Northern Tasmania to work with clients in their area to improve document literacy and address issues before legal advice is required.

LLV coordinator Sarah Ince said the program was created to relieve the workload of LCLC lawyers.

"The volunteer program was established in 2011 when the lawyers at LCLC realised how much of their time was being spent helping clients fill in forms of a non-legal nature," she said.

"The training for legal literacy volunteers is a wonderful opportunity for people to learn more about their legal rights, how to recognise legal needs and learn about other services."

According to the 2006 Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALLS) conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, "Tasmania had the lowest levels of adult literacy in all domains".

"For many of us, not just people struggling with literacy, the language in many forms is complex and confusing," Ms Ince said.

Many of the LLV clients are elderly, so there is a growing need for assistance when dealing with online and digital forms and services, such as Centrelink.

Cecilia Chiu has volunteered at the literacy program for nearly two years.

"A lot of clients come to us and they haven't got the correct documents [so] if they go to Centrelink directly, they will be sent back - and that takes up Centrelink's time," Ms Chiu said.

"So they come to us first, we look at the forms, and we will help them fill out the forms as much as we can."

Ms Chiu said volunteering has not only enabled her to help others with their document literacy skills, but has also strengthened her own.

"A soon as I [started] training, I realised, 'oh, actually, I am eligible for certain Centrelink benefits'," she said.

Ms Chiu said she would love to see more volunteers with different cultural backgrounds and languages.

"I know a lot of Chinese-speaking people here [and] they do need legal help, but because of the language barrier, and the lack of knowledge about this sort of service.

"They don't know that this service is available. If there were more volunteers of different cultural backgrounds, language backgrounds, that would help."

If you are interested in volunteering or want to know at what locations you can find help, visit the LLV website.