Jennifer Chen

Jennifer’s career in social justice has focused on improving services to people experiencing marginalisation.

Jennifer currently manages the With You Training Project on behalf of National Legal Aid. With You developed a Trauma-Informed Organisational Toolkit, providing guidance on all aspects of trauma-informed service design. This Toolkit was launched at Australian Parliament House by the Commonwealth Attorney General the Hon Mark Dreyfus on 16 November 2023.

The Toolkit includes best practice examples of trauma-informed service delivery from 40 services around Australia. Launch attendees included clients with lived experience of trauma; carers and family; leaders across the legal assistance sector nationally; front-line lawyers, allied professionals and legal support staff; decision-makers and researchers.

The With You Project is designed in partnership with people receiving and delivering legal assistance services. It is the first national co-design project in the legal assistance sector.

The With You Project was informed by listening to 534 stories around Australia, including from 195 lawyers, 98 clients with lived experience of trauma; 23 carer, family, supporters and kin. The perspectives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, Culturally and Linguistically Diverse, LGBTIQ+ and young people were reflected. Critically, the perspectives of hard-to-reach groups, such as people with lived experience of the criminal justice system and the compulsory mental health system, were also included.

In 2023, Jennifer was a presenter at the National Access to Justice & Pro Bono Conference, the Mental Health Services Conference and Legal Aid NSW Civil Law Conference.

Jennifer’s professional experiences include mental health law; program management for community legal centres and domestic violence support services; consulting; international law and international development.