Unprecedented demand from sex abuse victims for ACC support: 'It makes you want to cry'

A news report from RNZ by Hamish Cardwell

There has been an almost 400 percent increase in unsuccessful attempts by sex abuse victims to get mental health support through ACC over the past 15 months.
In that time survivors have tried more than 10,000 times to get help but were rejected.
Those who manage to secure a booking face waitlist times that have more than doubled.
ACC says it comes down to a lack of capacity among its sensitive claims mental health service suppliers.

Services at capacity - 'It's so disheartening'
Earlier this year Wellington woman Cassandra Saunders made the tough decision to seek mental health treatment for historical sexual abuse.
She contacted every mental health supplier and multiple individual therapists on ACC's accredited list for the capital - dozens and dozens in all - and got rejection after rejection.
"[They said] 'no we don't have space, no we don't have anything'. It makes you want to cry because it's just so disheartening knowing that even if you want help there's no one out there that can because their load's already too big."
Saunders said it looked like her best option was on a waitlist for an appointment up to a year away, or sooner at a different provider if she was willing to have a trainee psychologist sit in.
She did finally manage to wrangle an appointment - though lockdown put paid to it.
Wellington Rape Crisis general manager Kyla Rayner said demand was unprecedented.
"It's at the highest that we've ever seen in the history of our organisation. I've been in this role five years and the agency itself has been around over 40." 

Grim stats show system 'failing' survivors
ACC's national waitlist figures indicate that failed attempts by sex abuse survivors to get mental health help increased by 387 percent and reaching 4131 in the most recent quarter from 847, 15 months ago.
Sexual assault survivors' calls to suppliers to try and get mental health support were rejected more than 10,000 times in the past 12 months due to lack of capacity.
Many sensitive claim mental health support suppliers simply do not have room on their books to take more people on.
In fact, referrals were declined 2.8 times more often than clients were actually placed onto waitlists.
Weighted average national wait times have more than doubled in a year to more than 9 weeks, from 4.3 weeks.
Waitlist times are far longer in some places. In the three months to May average waitlist times stretched up to 25 weeks in Lower Hutt, 22 in Nelson, and 20 in Masterton.
The size of waitlists have also grown. The number of spots claimed by people has more than doubled, up 124 percent in the past 15 months - from 656 to 1473.
Green Party ACC spokesperson Jan Logie said delays compound the harm to survivors.
"Flashbacks, nightmares, terrors, really struggling to keep functioning.
"And to get to that point and then [survivors having] to make call after call after call to [suppliers and they say] 'sorry ... can't help'.
"It's an absolute failure of our system." 

ACC has doubled therapist numbers, but demand skyrocketing
ACC said the figures are a snapshot provided by services as part of a quarterly survey, and do not include people who get immediate treatment and avoid waitlists altogether.
Only a third of suppliers offer a waitlist.
The numbers also represent attempts to get access to services, not individual cases, and people likely make many attempts for support from multiple providers.
ACC said annual sensitive claims have more than doubled in five years to nearly 13,000, jumping 20 percent each year since 2014.
It has more than doubled the number of sensitive claims therapists in that time to 1990, with nearly 500 coming onboard in the past three years. It has also made it easier and faster for suppliers to bring on new therapists.
Despite all this, ACC said it has not been able to close the gap between supply and demand.
"Media coverage, the #metoo movement, the Royal Commission of Inquiry in Abuse in Care investigation, societal trends, and awareness-raising prevention campaigns are changing attitudes towards sexual violence, which we believe is resulting in more survivors of sexual violence feeling they can seek help."
Rayner from Rape Crisis said while New Zealand has high rates of sexual and domestic abuse, attitudes have also changed.
"In some ways it's kind of positive to see that so many people are coming forward because that's the reality of the prevalence of this harm in our society. The problem is now we're trying to catch up."
But Logie said ACC has known about the problems for years and has simply failed to take responsibility.
College of Clinical Psychologists executive advisor Paul Skirrow said the increase in therapists touted by ACC might not tell the whole story.
The mental toll on clinicians from working with sexual assault survivors meant many only worked part time, he said.
"There's actually ACC guidance that says that you shouldn't spend more than 50 percent of your time doing this kind of work. So we're talking about a number there but that might be a very small number of appointments available that it might translate to."
ACC said all survivors were entitled to 14 hours of one-on-one therapy, and 40 hours of other support after an initial assessment while they were having their claim analysed for possible full, long-term cover.
Those in crisis could get support from the wider mental health system, it said.

Where to get help:
NZ Police
Victim Support 0800 842 846
Rape Crisis 0800 88 33 00
Rape Prevention Education
Empowerment Trust
HELP Call 24/7 (Auckland): 09 623 1700, (Wellington): be 04 801 6655 - 0
Safe to talk: a 24/7 confidential helpline for survivors, support people and those with harmful sexual behaviour: 0800044334.
Mosaic - Tiaki Tangata Peer support for males who have experienced trauma and sexual abuse: 0800 94 22 94
If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.

© 2021 Radio New Zealand

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/452523/unprecedented-demand-from-sex-abuse-victims-for-acc-support-it-makes-you-want-to-cry

Government considers ACC for sexual harassment victims

A news report from RNZ

The government is looking into whether it can extend ACC cover to victims of sexual harassment. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Minister of Justice, Jan Logie, is having informal discussions with Minister for ACC Iain Lees Galloway about widening the provisions.
Under current law, only people who have been sexually violated have access to fully funded ACC support. Mental stress from sexual harassment and bullying such as inappropriate comments is not included.
But Jan Logie's office said she was looking into how victims of sexual harassment can have access to the same support as those of sexual abuse.
A spokesperson said it was an issue that had been raised on a number of occasions with Ms Logie by members of the public.
Co-leader of the Green Party, Marama Davidson, supports the idea, saying the country needed to take sexual harassment seriously.
"It's come from a background, that actually in the workplace ordinary sexual harassment has probably been seen as just normal and just the way things are and may be even celebrated but Jan Logie's work is important to get an understanding that it causes harm," said Marama Davidson.

© 2018 Radio New Zealand

https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/358817/government-considers-acc-for-sexual-harassment-victims

Counselling wait lists worsen as sexual violence claims spike

An article from The Manawatu Standard by Georgia Forrester.

Social services are  under strain as more people seek support for incidents of sexual violence.
Abuse and Rape Crisis Support Manawatu (ARCS) manager Ann Kent said the service was at capacity and had extended its hours in Palmerston North and Horowhenua, yet it still hadn't made a dent in its waiting list.
There was a two-to-three-month waiting list at ARCS for its counselling services.
The number of Manawatū people claiming ACC support for sexual violence cases had also spiked in the past year.
Figures released by ACC show there was a 24.2 per cent spike in claims made in the Manawatū District in the past financial year.
People who have experienced sexual abuse or sexual assault can lodge a sensitive claim with ACC and seek cover and entitlements for treatment, rehabilitation and compensation.
The number of sensitive claims made in Palmerston North increased by 16.3 per cent between 2015/16 and 2016/17.
Manawatū District claim costs reached $930,000 in the past year, with $2.5 million in costs paid to claims in Palmerston North.
Palmerston North was just below the national increase, which was up 16.5 per cent.
ACC redesigned its sensitive claim service in 2014 to improve accessibility,  but figures between 2012 and 2017 show a gradual increase in claims in the Manawatū area.
Kent said the ACC system was great,  but the current demand on counselling services was challenging and they were not able to keep up.
"I'm not aware of any agencies that are not experiencing an extra demand."
In an ideal world, counselling services would be offered to people there and then, but it was not realistic, she said.
During the nearly 10 years Kent had been a manager at the service, she had seen staff and client numbers jump.
Client numbers for counselling had remained steady in the past two years, but that was due to services already being at capacity, she said.
The service had expanded over time to keep up with demand, but there was no more funding available for further expansion.
Kent was unable to say whether there had been any increase in incidents of sexual violence.
"We believe that a lot of the increase is due to people being prepared to come forward to get support rather than keep silent about the abuse that they have experienced."
Police figures show reports of sexual assault and related offending tended to fluctuate monthly in the Central District.
There were 553 reports made in 2016 in the Central District, which includes Manawatū, Whanganui and Taranaki.
So far there had been 270 reports in the first six months of 2017.
Although there had not been a national campaign against sexual violence specifically, Kent said the 'It's Not OK' domestic violence campaign likely benefited the cause.
About 40 per cent of cases of violence between partners also involved sexual violence, she said.
Although there was a waiting list, Kent said social work services were still offered to people in the meantime. She encouraged people to come forward and use the services.
"What we don't want is for people to feel alone in this. We don't want them to feel completely isolated."
Green Party spokeswoman Jan Logie understood the pressure services were under, as some organisations had already raised concerns with her about heavy staff case loads.
Research showed only about one in 10 victims of sexual violence were reported.
"What we are seeing at the moment is still the tip of the iceberg."
However Logie said two-to-three-month waiting lists were too long.
A person may have waited 20 years before the trauma became too much and they finally sought help from a service. Those people needed help there and then.
Although preventative work was under way, there was still a lot of work to be done, she said.
A free national sexual violence helpline is scheduled to go live to the public on December 1, rolled out by the Ministry of Social Development.

© 2017 Fairfax New Zealand Ltd

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/97663396/counselling-wait-lists-worsen-as-sexual-violence-claims-spike

Protesters demand changes to way sexual attack survivors dealt with by ACC

An article from the New Zealand Herald

A "small but committed" group of protesters gathered outside ACC's Auckland office this afternoon calling for sexual attack survivors to qualify for ongoing taxpayer-funded counselling without a mental health illness diagnosis. Green Party MP Jan Logie led the demonstration with support from victim advocate, Louise Nicholas.
Up to 14 hours of one-on-one therapy is currently available when someone lodges a sensitive claim with ACC, along with up to 10 hours of social work support. Up to 20 hours of whanau support is also available immediately.
After these are used, ACC decides whether to approve cover for further support, should the person need it. That included victims needing to be diagnosed with a mental health injury relating to the abuse.
"Some survivors feel having to have a diagnosis puts judgment on them," Ms Logie said. "It takes them back to the the feeling that there's something wrong with them; that they're at fault.
"In other cases, survivors who need support are turned down because they don't have a diagnosis, or some don't apply for support because they think they'll be turned down."
She said a small but committed group of about 20 protesters gathered outside ACC's Auckland office at 12pm today.
"What we're asking for is incredibly simple. A counsellor can assess a survivor and whether they need help without them needing a mental health diagnosis."
The Green Party has also begun a petition which will be presented to ACC Minister Nikki Kaye.
Ms Kaye has said she believes the system is supportive of survivors but she will meet with providers to discuss possible changes to the scheme. That would include looking at different ways to assess mental harm to victims.
Ms Kaye said a "mental injury diagnosis" could be provided by any ACC registered and appropriately qualified assessor, which in many cases is the client's counsellor.
Changes were made in 2009 to the way support was accessed through ACC by sexual violence survivors, bringing in the requirement for a mental injury diagnosis in order to access help. After a 2010 review of the scheme and consultation with those working in the sector, further changes were made so survivors could have immediate access to support.

© 2016 NZME Publishing Ltd

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11647644

ACC Minister must help sexual violence survivors

A press release from the Green Party by Jan Logie

The Green Party is calling on ACC Minister Nikki Kaye to remove the obligation for sexual violence survivors to be diagnosed with a mental illness before being allowed additional ACC-funded counselling.
Green Party MP Jan Logie and survivor advocate Louise Nicholas today launched a new campaign and petition to demand that survivors don’t need a mental illness diagnosis in order to have their sensitive claims proceed.
“Being the victim of sexual violence is not a mental illness,” Ms Logie said.
“Being subjected to sexual violence is trauma enough. Being a victim of sexual violence on its own should qualify survivors for the help they need.
“It’s great to hear the Minister Nikki Kaye say she’s open to a better way of helping the survivors of sexual violence. Removing the obligation for them to be diagnosed with a mental illness is an appropriate start.”
The petition is available here: http://action.greens.org.nz/remove_the_barriers
Under current ACC practice, in order for survivors of sexual violence to have their ACC sensitive claim approved, they must be diagnosed with a psychiatric condition. Up to 16 hours of one-on-one therapy is initially available when someone lodges a sensitive claim with ACC, however accessing help after that requires a diagnosis.
“In many cases this labelling of sexual violence survivors can be re-traumatising and stigmatising, and is a significant deterrent for those who need treatment.
“ACC needs to change its processes so that people are able to access the help that they need,” Ms Logie said.

More information is available here http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/pb/business/qwa/QWA_03866_2016/3866-2016-jan-logie-to-the-minister-for-acc

© 2016 The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand

https://www.greens.org.nz/news/press-release/acc-minister-must-help-sexual-violence-survivors

Being a victim is not illness

An article from the Herald on Sunday by Tess Nichol

Requirements for sexual attack survivors to be diagnosed with a mental health illness to get ongoing taxpayer funded counselling could be reviewed, ACC Minister Nikki Kaye has revealed.
Green Party MP Jan Logie will tomorrow lead a demonstration at ACC's Auckland office protesting the current process, which requires survivors receive a mental injury diagnosis before their claim for further assistance can be approved.
Up to 14 hours of one-on-one therapy is available when someone lodges a sensitive claim with ACC, along with up to 10 hours of social work support. Up to 20 hours of whanau support are also available immediately.
After these are used, ACC decides whether to approve cover for further support, should the person need it. That included victims needing to be diagnosed with a mental health injury relating to the abuse.
"We believe that survivors of sexual abuse should be able to get all the help they need without the requirement of being diagnosed with a mental illness," Logie said. "The advocates are very clear that it is still acting as a barrier, [that] the consequences are harmful and that it's unhelpful."
Logie said she had been told of survivors who had to retell painful details of their abuse to people they had not previously met so they could get the mental health diagnosis they needed to keep seeing their therapist, a process they described as traumatic and revictimising.
Kaye told the Herald on Sunday she believed the system was supportive of survivors. But the minister said she would meet providers this week to discuss possible changes to the scheme. That would include looking at different ways to assess mental harm to victims.
"I'm really keen to work with providers and opposition parties to see if there is a better way [of doing things]."
Kaye said a "mental injury diagnosis" could be provided by any ACC registered and appropriately qualified assessor, which in many cases is the client's counsellor.
"If the assessor is someone different, the client's counsellor can be with them throughout the process, including during the assessment to ensure they feel safe and supported, and can provide background information to the assessor beforehand if the client doesn't wish to speak about some things again."
Changes were made in 2009 to the way support was accessed through ACC by sexual violence survivors, bringing in the requirement for a mental injury diagnosis in order to access help. After a 2010 review of the scheme and consultation with those working in the sector, further changes were made so survivors could have immediate access to support.
Since the review, ACC has been working with providers to improve the care of sexual assault survivors, something Kaye said had been hugely successful.
"We've come a long way [since 2009]," she said. "ACC has given me feedback that a lot of providers have been quite positive about the new service. But that doesn't mean that we can't do better."

© 2016 NZME Publishing Limited

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11646773

Sexual violence services – the real story

A blog post by Jan Logie

What has really led to the Government’s changing stance on funding for sexual violence services?
People have been congratulating me on this news yesterday and I have to admit working with the sector through this process has given meaning to my time in Parliament and I am proud of the work we have done on this.  I am a bit embarrassed by the congratulations in the context of the thousands of submissions and years and years of work by incredible advocates which really got the result.
While I’ll need to see the dollars in the budget, and hear that the Government is working closely with the specialist providers, especially Nga Kaitiaki Mauri, to design the new model before I relax, I do want to reflect on the journey to this point.
The 70s and 80s saw women coming together to voluntarily support women who had experienced sexual violence. The Government provided some funding from the mid 80s. There was a period of new general services, the Pacific Island Women’s Project, and kaupapa Maori services being set up to respond to the growing need. These groups were advocating for the prevention of sexual violence – law reform and social change as well as supporting victim/survivors. It wasn’t until the mid 90s that we had the first ethnic women’s organisation, Shakti and in the late 90s the Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse Trust set up. There are still obvious gaps.
ACC alongside MSD were the major funders for sexual violence support services. The services were always under-valued and certainly not recognised for the amazing life-saving and at times world leading responses to sexual violence that they were and are. Sexual violence has been one of those very difficult topics to talk about in any context so that always made the services a bit of an easy target for funding cuts.
Despite Maori women being more likely to experience sexual violence in New Zealand and kaupapa Maori approaches being far more successful we have lost almost all of our specialist kaupapa Maori sexual violence services. There was a time when there were over twenty services but now there are fewer than five.
The Taskforce for Action was initiated by Labour in the wake of public horror about Louise Nicholas’s experiences. Louise did not have access to the right help, from our justice system or social services, when she needed it and that is one of the reasons she has been so actively advocating for increased funding for years.
The Taskforce for Action came out in 2009 calling for a national prevention plan and proper resourcing of the sexual violence sectors, basically all the same things that the select committee has recommended again 6 years later.
Maori and non-Maori specialists gave hundreds of hours of their time, voluntarily, in the Taskforce for Action on Sexual Violence. They spent hours and hours strategizing and organising and lobbying to try and ensure that victim/survivors had access to the services they needed. If this had been implemented there would have been no need for the select committee inquiry.
But even while the National party Minister for Justice called the Taskforce for Action the best road map the country had ever had for addressing sexual violence, the Government was in the process of gutting ACC support for victim/survivors. The Government told ACC that they had to make savings. In 2009 they saved $3.2billion dollars by going after, amongst other things, the “low hanging fruit” of sensitive claims. These changes resulted in a 36% decline the number of claims being lodged and even more shockingly the number of accepted claims going from 60% to 3.6% in just two years. Specialist agencies stopped using ACC because they thought it was unsafe for survivors and the number of ACC counsellors halved. During the inquiry into sexual violence funding we heard from a man whose partner had killed herself because she couldn’t get the support she needed over this time.
Many therapists and counsellors and volunteers just kept going, under increasing strain themselves, because they knew that people were depending on them. This was a truly awful time in New Zealand’s history.
Public concern over these changes forced Minister Nick Smith to initiate a review in 2010.The Disley report in 2010 made fourteen recommendations to fix the mess. Considerable effort has been made since then by ACC, the community and others to try and restore ACC. In the select committee report much has been made of the improvements to ACC. A new model is in place and it is much better but we are still not there yet.
Ahead of the budget and future work, I just want to celebrate the bloody minded tenacity of survivors and advocates who have kept going through this very dismal time. I genuinely and wholeheartedly hope the Government doesn’t let us all down again.

© 1996-2015 The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand

https://blog.greens.org.nz/2016/04/01/sexual-violence-services-the-real-story/

Question to Minister

7. JAN LOGIE (Green) to the Minister of Justice: Does she stand by her statement “we need to encourage these women and children to be comfortable coming forward to report domestic and sexual violence”; if so, what has she done to encourage women to report domestic violence?



Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Justice) :Yes; the Government has already achieved significant progress with improving the support for victims of domestic and sexual violence. As a result of the $50 offender levy, $12.6 million has been collected since July 2010. There are 15 new grants and services available to victims, including discretionary grants to support victims of sexual violence and funding for the national Sexual Violence Survivor Advocate, as well as specialist victim advisers to provide assistance for parents or caregivers who attend court to support child witnesses. As Minister of Justice I have initiated a major work stream, which is nearing completion and which will include a range of further initiatives to provide better support and access to justice for victims of domestic and sexual violence.
Jan Logie: Will women feel encouraged to report domestic violence when they see her, the Minister of Justice, defending Maurice Williamson’s interference—
Mr SPEAKER: Order! [Interruption] Order! That question now has no connection with the primary question. I invite the member—I do not want to take supplementary questions away from her. I invite her to ask a question that is in relation to the primary question.
Hon Members: Point of order.
Mr SPEAKER: Well, I cannot take three at once. I will not take any; they have all sat down.
Jan Logie: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. My initial question was relating to encouraging women to report. My second question was whether women will feel encouraged to report, based on the leadership provided by that Minister. It was directly relevant.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! If the member simply asks that question, it will be in order, but when it is a reference to a resignation that has occurred, etc., that is not in order. So if the member wants to stand and ask the question that she has just raised in the point of order, it may well be acceptable.
Jan Logie: Will women feel encouraged to report domestic violence when they see her, the Minister of Justice, providing leadership in domestic violence, supporting a Minister’s interference in a police case?
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I gave the member one more chance. She was on the right track until the last part. I will give her only one—[Interruption] Order! I will give her one more opportunity. Otherwise, we will move to the next question.
Grant Robertson: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I would ask you to reflect on that ruling you have just made. The question from Jan Logie was a broad statement around domestic and sexual violence. She has asked a question of the Minister. I cannot understand why her referencing a matter that is in the public arena rules the question out of order.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! Well, the member might not understand it, but I invite the member to look very carefully at the Standing Orders—
Grant Robertson: Which one?
Mr SPEAKER: Well, 384, if the member needs it, and I invite him to read it if he wants to. Supplementary questions are at the discretion of the Speaker. I have been very patient with the member. I will give the member her last opportunity. Otherwise, we are moving to the next question.
Jan Logie: Will women feel encouraged to report domestic violence when they see her, the Minister of Justice, providing public defence in relation to a high-profile case of domestic violence?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS: Of course I have not done that. What I have done is to say that the Prime Minister was quite right to receive the resignation of my colleague Mr Williamson in the circumstances. I have also, at the same time—
Rt Hon Winston Peters: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I apologise to the Minister.
Rt Hon Winston Peters: On three occasions you found that the original question was erroneous or outside of the Standing Orders because of a reference to a certain case. Now you find that the Minister of Justice is quite within the borders of the Standing Orders, having referred to the case that you ruled out from being referred to in the first place. Can we have some consistency here, please.
Mr SPEAKER: I would have thought the Minister’s answer was helpful to the House, but if the member is objecting to the answer, then I will curtail the answer and we will move on. Are there further supplementary questions?
Jan Logie: If tackling domestic violence is a priority, why has the Ministry of Justice funding for family and domestic violence services dropped under her Government from $8.7 million in 2010 to $7.3 million in 2013, despite an increase in family violence arrests last year?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS: These days we take much more of a cross-Government approach to the funding of domestic violence and sexual violence. In fact, I can tell the member that the Ministry of Social Development is also contributing to the funding. Also, in addition to that, another portfolio, accident compensation, has spent—I think it is, from memory—around $40 million a year on sensitive claims resulting from sexual violence.
Jan Logie: I seek leave to table a report compiled by the library showing a decrease in funding from the Government, from the Ministry of Social Development, as well as the Ministry of Justice, as well as the It’s Not OK campaign—
Mr SPEAKER: Order! It has been well described. On the basis that it is not freely available to members, I will put the leave. Leave is sought to table this library report on a funding trend. Is there any objection to it being tabled? There is none. It can be tabled.

    Document, by leave, laid on the Table of the House.

Jan Logie: How can women feel comfortable reporting domestic violence when Ministers have slashed funding for family violence and used their power to help a man charged with abuse simply—
Mr SPEAKER: Order! Again, we are right back in the same position we were earlier. I will invite the member—[Interruption] Order! I will invite the member to re-ask her question. I suggest that if she just keeps it to the first part, it will be in order.
Dr Russel Norman: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. The Minister of Justice herself introduced the Mr Williamson case. That is what the Minister did. It is now on the record. We now have a right to respond—
Mr SPEAKER: Order! A member sitting not too far from the member took objection to the Minister raising that. On that basis, I curtailed the answer. [Interruption] Order! We can move on very quickly. I have been exceedingly patient with the member. I will ask her, if she wants to ask further supplementary questions, that she does it according to the Standing Orders.
Jan Logie: How can women feel comfortable reporting domestic violence when Ministers have slashed funding for support, prevention, and treatment services, and lost their way in terms of providing political leadership on the importance of a consistent response to domestic violence?
Hon JUDITH COLLINS: I reject the allegation in the second part of that member’s question. I can say to that member that this Government is deeply committed to bringing an end to domestic and sexual violence. In fact, that member well knows and many people in this House will well know that there are people in this House whose close family members have been killed as a result of domestic violence.

http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/pb/business/qoa/50HansQ_20140506_00000007/7-domestic-violence%E2%80%94support-for-victims

Changes to ACC funding for sensitive claims

A post from FrogBlog by Jan Logie

Isaac Davidson from the Herald ran another great story today on the support services for victims of sexual abuse and ACC plans to improve coverage.
The new model will be “an expanded, more flexible service which took into account the sensitivity, length of time and cost of treating rape-related trauma based on the 2010 review recommendations.” It will cover full cost of the sessions and will allow people to shop around for a therapist who they feel comfortable with and therapists, psychologist and psychotherapists would be given travel funding to allow them to reach people in isolated regions. ACC is also planning to increasingly include family members or support people through the recovery process. There is an expectation that with increased reporting and more funding ACC were expecting the cost of sensitive claims to double from $45million per year.
Of course this is all good news but there are a few points in here that we need to watch carefully if we are to ensure that everyone gets the right help...

Read the rest of this post here: http://blog.greens.org.nz/?p=30254

© 2014 The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand