Increasing fears among counsellors in the Eastern Bay that their at-risk patients may go without help under new ACC legislation may prompt them to provide their services for free.© 2010 Whakatane Beacon
The Government introduced a new Sensitive Claims Unit in October last year, which requires clients to be diagnosed with a mental illness as a result of sexual abuse in order to receive ACC compensation. Under these new rules, sexual abuse victims must first visit a doctor, clinical psychologist or psychiatrist who would determine whether the client has a mental injury arising from a criminal event. If the person qualifies they can then make a claim to ACC.
However a group of five counsellors from Opotiki and Whakatane say they already knew of several cases where this new process had been followed - but the claims had still been turned down. The five counsellors and Whakatane Women’s Refuge manager Wini Te Are recently met with Labour MPs Ruth Dyson and Moana Mackey in Whakatane to air their concerns and ask for answers. At that meeting Anne Doree, Caren Mandemaker, Debbie Magee, Marion van Delden, Tracy Hillier and Ms Te Are expressed their concern about the long-term social cost of denying people counselling and the effect on their clients, who were upset that nobody had asked them.
Opotiki counsellor Debbie Magee said the new legislation had created a big hurdle for those seeking assistance to get ongoing support. Quick intervention was crucial at that early stage. Since it had been introduced there had been a huge decline in people coming forward - but that didn’t reflect a reduction in need, which was how supporters of the change would likely interpret such statistics. “They are just too frightened,” she said. “The process is already frightening and this has made it worse. I’m really angry.”
Anne Doree, a counsellor for the Chrysalis Group in Whakatane, said they were likely to end up treating clients voluntarily if they did not qualify for ACC funding. “We can’t not help these women”. Providing their services for free would seriously undermine their years of experience, she said.
Private practice counsellor Marion van Deldon said many of her clients, particularly the men, wanted her to tell the MPs that they would be “out there killing people” if it wasn’t for counselling they received. Ms van Deldon said making counselling services less accessible to those in need would inevitably result in escalating crime and substance abuse and, ultimately, an over-burdened prison system.
Ms Te Are said she was worried the already-pressured refuge would have to cover services that were no longer available in the Eastern Bay and they would bear the brunt of the social impact of these changes. “We are really worried about the direction the Government is taking,” she said. “We are struggling to provide a service in the Eastern Bay and we are well over our voluntary level already. We can’t sustain all the work in the community.”
Rape Crisis was no longer available in the district and this was one of the extra services now being covered by refuge volunteers.
Former ACC minister Ruth Dyson said she and her colleagues were battling the changes in Parliament. “I have heard some heartbreaking cases and it is terrible that these people are the first ones to be victimised,” she said. Ms Dyson said it was clearly the Government’s agenda to eventually privatise ACC but if this happened, Labour would renationalise if they were victorious in the 2011 election.
Ms Mackey, Labour’s East Coast-based list MP, said the issue was too important to let go and they would keep questioning the minister Nick Smith about it. “It isn’t an issue we are going to drop,” she said. “The system was working before so we just need to keep the pressure on. This is a government that, when it’s put under pressure, it backs down.”
http://www.whakatanebeacon.co.nz/cms/news/2010/03/art10006821.php
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