Who we assist
The Community Visitor Program is designed to protect the interests of adults who have impaired capacity or a mental or intellectual impairment and cannot make their own decisions. We help those people who live or receive services at the visitable sites the law says we can visit and help them understand their rights.
If an adult has a complaint about someone taking advantage of them at their residence, or not giving adequate support, treatment or standard of services, they can tell the community visitor, who will try to resolve the issue with the staff or manager.
Our clients can include people with:
- mental illness
- psychiatric disability
- intellectual disability
- acquired brain injury
- dementia, who may in some circumstances have impaired decision-making capacity.
Impaired capacity
The law presumes everyone has capacity to make decisions for themselves. You cannot assume someone has impaired capacity without sufficient evidence. If there is any doubt, you should check with the person’s carer, family, friend or health or other professional. ‘Capacity’ is the ability to:
- understand the nature and effect of decisions about a matter
- freely and voluntarily make decisions about the matter
- communicate the decisions in some way.
A person must have all three abilities to be considered to have capacity to make a decision about an inquiry or complaint. Someone who lacks any one of these abilities is said to have impaired capacity.
Facilities that we are permitted to visit
The adults who we visit must live in the following visitable sites:
- an authorised mental health facility with in-patient services
- a hostel registered as 'level three' supported accommodation
- a residence with other people who also receive support from Disability Services Queensland or a paid service provider.