Complaints

If you have a complaint about Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA), please contact us so that we can try to resolve your concern. We aim to resolve complaints quickly and fairly.

Making a complaint by phone

As IMHA is a service delivered by Victoria Legal Aid, the Victoria Legal Aid Complaints team are responsible for reviewing complaints. You can call us or Victoria Legal Aid Complaints on (03) 9280 3789, Monday to Friday from 8.45 am to 5.15 pm.

You can speak to someone in English or ask for an interpreter.

If you are deaf or have a hearing or speech impairment, you can use the National Relay Service to call us over the internet on (03) 9280 3789.

Making a complaint in writing

If you would like to make a complaint in writing, you can email IMHA directly or Victoria Legal Aid's complaints handling team or send a letter to:

IMHA
Attention: IMHA manager
GPO Box 4380
MELBOURNE VIC 3001

OR

Complaints team
Victoria Legal Aid
GPO Box 4380
MELBOURNE VIC 3001

What happens next

Our Complaints team will try to resolve your complaint as quickly as possible. Depending on the nature of your complaint, this might involve:

• referring the complaint to the IMHA manager to resolve
• investigating your complaint directly, or helping to conciliate a resolution between you and IMHA
• referring you to another organisation, for example, the Victorian Ombudsman
• recording your feedback.

We take all complaints seriously and where possible we will let you know in writing the results of your complaint.

If you are still unhappy with the outcome you can contact another organisation such as the Victorian Ombudsman.

Reporting improper conduct

IMHA takes transparency and accountability very seriously. We do not tolerate improper conduct, or reprisals against anyone who discloses such conduct.

You can report improper or corrupt conduct by a public officer or public body. People who come forward with such information are sometimes known as ‘whistleblowers’.

They are protected by the Protected Disclosure Act 2012. This Act enables people to make disclosures about improper conduct in the public sector without fear of reprisal. These disclosures are called ‘protected disclosures’.

We encourage anyone who observes improper conduct at IMHA to disclose it to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC).

You can use IBAC’s online complainant form, call 1300 735 135 or write to IBAC, GPO Box 24234, Melbourne VIC 3001.

Victoria Legal Aid has responsibility for dealing with protected disclosures of improper conduct at IMHA, and for ensuring its compliance with the Protected Disclosures Act.

To find out more about improper conduct and how we protect people who disclose it, read the protected disclosure procedures on Victoria Legal Aid’s website, or contact:

Victoria Legal Aid’s Complaints and Statutory Compliance
Phone: (03) 9280 3789
Email: complaints@vla.vic.gov.au.