My day as a RACS Legal Helpline volunteer
Volunteering for RACS gave me a crucial insight into the importance of the services the organisation provides refugees and people seeking asylum, writes RACS intern Noah.
Clients connect to RACS through the RACS Legal Helpline, a free service for people seeking asylum where people can call to receive quick legal advice. It operates between 10:00am-1:00pm and 2:00pm-4:00pm every Monday to Friday. As a “front-end” volunteer, my role was to answer these phone calls.
Calls through the Legal Helpline can either be from existing clients asking about their ongoing case with RACS or from new people seeking legal advice. Front-end volunteers can also be assigned a variety of tasks. These typically involve following up on missed calls or responding to email inquiries.
Something interesting I encountered during front-end volunteering was how capable the lawyers were. They consistently provided high-quality and immediate assistance to the volunteers. I appreciated how professional and patient the lawyers were with us!
What I found the most difficult about front-end work was the improvising and multitasking required. When you first start volunteering, there are many things to keep track of, including:
Conflict checking;
Client intake;
Navigating various websites;
Figuring out how to ask the right questions;
All while writing down important client information.
“Front-end” volunteers at the RACS office
However, pushing through that initial uncomfortable barrier unlocked a powerful and personal experience for me. Being a part of the conversations and hearing many first-hand life stories really opened my eyes to the hardships of seeking asylum.
There were difficult moments. Sometimes over an hour of conversation with a client would eventually culminate in RACS being unable (for legal or practical reasons) to provide the assistance they sought.
There were also moments of joy. Walking clients through important documents and hearing their gratitude and hope was highly rewarding.
Front-end volunteering is hard. It is mentally demanding and, after a long day of calls, can be emotionally draining. But, after my time spent on the phones and liaising with the lawyers, I saw the immense value in the service RACS provides for its clients. I saw that there are determined people fighting to right the wrongs of this world.
It was a joy and a privilege to serve with the front-end volunteering team, and despite its difficulty, I now recognise just how important a job it is.
By Noah Randell
Note: Volunteers do not provide legal advice, only trained lawyers can do this. However, volunteers are crucial to the operation of RACS’s Legal Helpline and are often the first person a caller speaks with. Volunteers work together with RACS lawyers to provide the assistance required.
