The Australian Vietnamese Women’s Association Inc. (AVWA), a community organisation provides assistance to the Vietnamese-Australian community across Metropolitan Melbourne through a number of services: counselling for gambling, drug and alcohol addiction; support services for victims of family violence; community education and nationally accredited training; staff supported playgroups; home care packages etc. (Visit www.avwa.org.au/en/).

Since 2016, BMCLC and the AVWA commenced a partnership to deliver legal services via a bilingual lawyer through the Vietnamese Lawyer Project. This project has been extremely successful and has provided legal assistance to over 220 community members. The project also conducts community legal education sessions to  AVWA’s Seniors and Playgroups.

The AVWA has an ongoing commitment to train its staff and equip them with best practices. Recently, BMCLC was invited to participate in the AVWA’s half-yearly training event and Martin Ha (Principal Lawyer, BMCLC) delivered staff training on issues relating to Confidentiality, Privacy and Dealing with clients exhibiting challenging behaviours.

The Professional Development Day was well attended and the training was very well received.

From Left: Cam Nguyen (CEO, AVWA), Martin Ha (Principal Lawyer, BMCLC), Qui Ma (Aged Care Services Manager, AVWA), Huy Luu (Operations Manager, AVWA)