Seniors Rights Victoria only has capacity to respond to calls from older people experiencing or at risk of elder abuse. If your matter is an emergency, please call 000. If you are a concerned friend or family member, please encourage the older person to call us or click here for access to information and resources.
Seniors Rights Victoria provides information, support, advice and education to help prevent elder abuse and safeguard the rights, dignity and independence of older people.
Our services include a Helpline, specialist legal services, short-term support and advocacy for individuals and community education. Seniors Rights Victoria also provides leadership on policy and law reform and works with organisations and groups to raise awareness of elder abuse.
Service providers can call the Seniors Rights Victoria Helpline for information and advice on a range of matters relating to elder abuse.
Seniors Rights Victoria can assist older people directly, including clients of a service provider, if that person consents to our assistance and we can speak to them directly.
For more information about Seniors Rights Victoria download our service brochure.
Seniors Rights Victoria can contact your client to provide direct assistance provided you have obtained the consent of that client to Seniors Rights Victoria contacting them. Seniors Rights Victoria will need some basic information about the client and the situation. Service providers can help the older person to get access to a phone in a safe place where they can make a private call or can help the older person to attend an appointment they have arranged with Seniors Rights Victoria staff.
If an older person needs an interpreter during the call, Seniors Rights Victoria can arrange this. Seniors Rights Victoria can also arrange for an interpreter to attend an in-person appointment either at our office or at another venue.
If a service provider has a client who they know is in immediate physical danger or at risk of significant harm, they should take further action in line with their agency’s protocol for responding to elder abuse. See Safety in Emergencies. Where the danger is not imminent
Seniors Rights Victoria recognises that the claim that an older person ‘has dementia’ or has ‘lost decision-making capacity’ is often used as an excuse to hide abuse. Because of this, we test these claims about an older person’s capacity by talking to the person directly. That’s why, if you contact Seniors Rights Victoria on behalf of an older person, we will still need to speak to them directly.
If the person has lost capacity to the extent that we cannot assist them but we believe they need to be protected from abuse, we will provide you with information about possible referrals to ensure they are protected. However, Victoria does not have an organisation that you can report abuse to, unlikely Queensland and some other states and territories.
Contact our free, confidential Helpline: 1300 368 821 10:00am -5:00pm Monday – Friday
If you are in Victoria and are experiencing or at risk of elder abuse, help is available through our confidential helpline on 1300 368 821.
If you are a concerned friend or family member, please encourage the older person to call us or you can access information and resources here. You can also find a lawyer via the Law Institute of Victoria website.
If it is an emergency, call 000.
