ACC backdown over counselling pleases

An article from the Marlborough Express by Penny Wardle

Blenheim counsellor Lizzie Fulton is delighted the Accident Compensation Corporation has backed down on its decision to make sexual abuse victims wait for a psychologist's assessment before starting counselling.
ACC announced yesterday that sexual abuse victims could immediately get up to 16 hours with a counsellor. This reversed guidelines released last year that focused treatment only on sexual abuse victims with a diagnosed mental injury.
Ms Fulton says it is possible ACC's change of heart might have more to do with a national shortage of psychologists to carry out the diagnosis than sympathy for sexual abuse victims.
She was certain that many victims disappeared off the radar while waiting for help. She had clients who were no longer contactable, having requested sexual abuse counselling last year. People who were not functioning well sometimes could not afford phones, she said. "People often take a long time to come forward asking for help, because their lives are in such a mess, she said. "Something in them says, `I can't continue like this'."
Email networks between ACC sexual abuse counsellors suggested it was not uncommon for people to wait up to six months for help. ACC had promised children would be fast-tracked, but Ms Fulton said there was a backlog of sexually abused children who had been waiting for three or four months for help.
For many sexual abuse victims, 16 counselling sessions would be enough, but she wanted to know what would happen for those who needed longer-term help. Some severely affected clients had required 50 or 60 sessions before they could live with the trauma of their abuse, she said.
"Abuse is the outcome of crime," said Ms Fulton. "There are people with mental health problems who might require a lifetime of treatment. If sexual abuse victims require long-term help, why should that not be available under ACC?"
The requirement for a mental health diagnosis to access treatment had discouraged victims from seeking help because of the stigma attached, she said. Some did not want to see a psychologist or psychologist.
The Marlborough Express understands that only one psychologist working part-time was available for this work in Marlborough.

© 2010 Fairfax New Zealand Ltd
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