Victims of sexual abuse are feeling the effect

An article from the Taranaki Daily News

Some of those most affected by ACC's harder line are victims of sexual abuse.
"People who are victims of sexual crimes don't have a voice. They speak with their feet. They're not turning up for counselling, referrals are right down. People are not prepared to come in and be given a label of mental illness," New Plymouth Safer Centre counsellor Bob Stevens says.
The New Zealand Association of Counsellors is agitating across the country, he says.
"When do you suddenly become a mental health patient because you have been sexually assaulted?"
Since October, ACC has started to lay on an "unsuspecting public" new clinical pathways.
"They've decided arbitrarily, because there had been no change to legislation, that the only way you can fund ACC counselling is to have a diagnosis under the American psychiatry bible DSM-IV. Those of us who have being doing this work for half a lifetime, 18 years for me, are sidelined because we are not trained to use the diagnostic criteria, therefore we can't do assessments."
To become ACC approved, sexual abuse counsellors had to "jump through more hoops than a circus", he says. And yet now they are not deemed qualified enough to make the assessments.
He's appalled at the new approach.
"People come in here and tell me I can't take this any more."
Under the new rules, people who are victims of sexual abuse have to tell their stories to a sexual abuse counsellor, who passes on the information to ACC. The claim is then assessed by a psychiatrist and psychologist, out of the area, who make the decision whether or not to accept it, without meeting the clients. However, sometimes, an extra assessment is required by ACC and then the client may end up telling their story to a number of different people.
The psychiatrists and psychologists are "hell bent" on looking at whatever psychological problem they can find - to hell with the event, Mr Stevens says.
ACC senior medical adviser Peter Jansen says there has been a lot of coverage lately of the new "pathway", much of it uninformed and negative.
"It's important to understand that ACC is not cutting services to people who are entitled to them. Our legislation is very clear: we can provide cover only for injuries. The entitlements that follow from an accepted claim will depend on the nature of the injury."

So to pay for psychological treatment or therapy such as counselling for sexual abuse or assault victims, ACC needs to be satisfied that sexual abuse or assault has caused a mental injury. This is a clinical diagnosis, which can be made only by registered health professionals with appropriate training, qualifications and experience, Dr Jansen says.
"In the past, we have not followed this requirement as closely as we should have. The result is that we have paid for counselling and other benefits for some people not entitled to it. This is not to say that these people do not have psychological needs; it is simply that ACC cannot legally cover them. Other agencies such as Health and Social Development often can."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/features/3352813/Victims-of-sexual-abuse-are-feeling-the-effect