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.
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.
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.
More sexual abuse and sexual assault victims are reaching out for help under ACC's sensitive claims services. Figures released to Newshub under the Official Information Act show claims have nearly doubled in the past six years. In 2010, 3674 people lodged a claim compared to 6946 people last year. Those seeking counselling services have also almost doubled. ACC Minister Nikki Kaye says it's down to changes made around the handling of sensitive claims. "Previously it was hard, it was quite an insensitive process," she says. Victim advocate Louise Nicholas says the rise is also likely down to more people speaking out against sexual violence and the stigma around people speaking out being lifted. Over the past three years, ACC has had to re-think the sensitive claims process and worked with survivors of abuse, advocates and therapists to make the process easier. ACC also scrapped the top up fee that victims previously had to pay for counselling services and a new support package was also announced this time last year. Ms Kaye says $100 million will be spent over the next six years to give people better access to counsellors.
On combatting sexual violence, the government has finally begun to undo some of the problems that were of its own making. Early in March, ACC launched the Integrated Services for Sensitive Claims scheme – a package aimed at improving the attitudes of ACC staff towards sexual violence victims, and offering them more substantive support. Hopefully, this will help to reverse the damage done with the insensitive, punitive ACC policy put in place by the incoming Key government in 2009, which in some parts of New Zealand, saw 90 per cent of sexual violence victims being turned away by ACC. As well as this new support scheme, ACC is also increasing its annual funding of sexual violence prevention education, from a paltry $1 million to $4 million, a figure still seen as inadequate by experienced workers in the field. In addition, Justice Minister Amy Adams has invited the Law Commission to revisit its work on possible changes to the pre-trial and courtroom procedures faced by sexual complainants. The Police however, continue to be one of the glaring problem areas. The report by the Independent Police Conduct Authority into the Police handling of the so called “Roastbusters” group in Auckland not only disagreed with the Police rationale for not initiating a prosecution under the Crimes Act – ultimately, the Police decided that a prosecution would not be in the public interest, given the young age of some of the offenders. It was a stance that completely ignored the even younger age of some of the victims. The IPCA also faulted (as being inadequate to non-existent) the Police contact with the young men and their families. Arguably, not only was justice for the victims ill-served by the Police decision not to prosecute, but the deterrent/prevention aspect was completely neglected. In the words of the IPCA report, the Police “overlooked the importance of holding the young men accountable for their behavior, and preventing its recurrence.” The conspicuous failure by Police over the Roastbusters incidents came despite the findings by the 2007 Commission of Inquiry into Police conduct (that had been initiated by the complaints made by Louise Nicholas). This inquiry had revealed a culture of misogyny and aberrant behaviour rife among the Police, at high levels of the Police hierarchy. So, unless the government is prepared to put some heat on the Police over its handling of sexual violence between adolescents and adults – and the subject was conspicuously absent from the Briefing to the Incoming Minister of Police in 2014 – then the concerns about sexual violence being expressed in Parliament this week will ring hollow. Even the possible changes to pre-trial and courtroom treatment will not address the issue of prevention. As the initial Law Commission issues paper on those proposals pointed out, the approach being assessed “ does nothing to address the attitudes that led to the offending, and it accordingly fails to reduce the risk that the behaviour will recur.” It may seem both incredible and yet somehow unsurprising that – so long as some of the next America’s Cup racing is held in Auckland - the government would spend ten times the amount on that regatta than what ACC is currently putting into sexual violence prevention education.
A news report from Radio New Zealand News by Michael Cropp
The Accident Compensation Corporation has overhauled its sensitive claims service, with its minister saying it made big mistakes in the way it dealt with victims of sexual assaults.
Before 2009, ACC accepted thousands of sensitive claims, but after changes to the system that number plummeted, and in 2011 just 135 claims were accepted.
Survivors' advocate Louise Nicholas said the impact when ACC clamped down on the numbers of claims it accepted was devastating and in some cases victims committed suicide. Support workers no longer wanted to be part of the system, she said.
"We lost hundreds upon hundreds of counsellors who refused to work in such an inhumane system," she said.
"We lost survivors, and I mean literally, lost survivors. So people just backed right off and said 'we don't want a part of this'."
Ms Nicholas had been a member of a panel that worked to overhaul what she said was a highly bureaucratic process which re-traumatised sexual assault survivors and denied them the help they needed. Many struggled with ACC forms asking them what kind of accident they had had - while constant assessments to qualify for assistance wore people down.
More support
Under the new service, that is set to change. There will be a support package for people who have suffered sexual abuse or assault, access to therapy is free and people are covered for longer. People are also able to enter and exit the system for support at any time. As well as the person who was sexually assaulted or abused, family and whānau are also able to seek help free of charge. The form, too, has changed to reflect the sensitivities of the situation.
ACC strategy manager for sexual violence, Emma Powell, said the changes required a big re-think of how ACC dealt with clients.
"It's a tailored response and a tailored approach, trying to put as much control back into the hands of our clients."
The client is able to choose who they see and if things were not working out the Sensitive Claims team would arrange an alternative.
"We talk about the fact that the counsellor-and-client relationship is critical to success, so if it's not working we need to offer ways that people can seek other supports," she said.
The public issues Chair for the NZ Association of Psychotherapists, Kyle MacDonald, worked with sensitive claims clients and helped advise ACC on the changes. He said the new system was much more sympathetic to a survivor's needs.
"I think that ACC have engaged really willingly in the process of recognising that actually the system wasn't working and that they needed to fix it," he said. "they have essentially redesigned a services which looks to address a lot of the concerns raised [in 2012]."
ACC Minister Nikki Kaye, said the old system was not working, and she wanted people to know it had changed.
"There's a lot of work to do, both around how do we prevent these things from happening, but then how do we make sure people are cared for right throughout government," she said.
The Minister said the changes were just the start of a much bigger process, which she hoped would provide better care for survivors and help prevent the violence from happening.
* If you, or someone you know, is affected by sexual violence you can find out more about these services at ACC Find Support site or call the ACC sensitive claims team on 0800 735 566.
An article from the New Zealand Herald by Simon Collins
Almost 90 per cent of accident compensation claims for sexual abuse counselling have been either turned down or held for more information since tough new rules came into force last October.
Official figures from the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) confirm reports from counsellors that hundreds of victims of rape and other sexual abuse are being turned away from counselling.
Thousands more have been scared off applying for counselling, as the numbers applying have halved from a reported 550 a month last year to an average of 250 a month in the first six months after the new rules came into force on October 27.
Only 178 of the 1498 victims who applied for counselling in the six months to April 30 were accepted for counselling, an acceptance rate of 11.9 per cent.
Comparative data for recent years is no longer available on the ACC website, but ACC said in 2001 that 93.8 per cent of the sexual abuse claims received in the year to June 2001, or 5229 claims, were accepted.
A panel appointed by ACC Minister Nick Smith to review the new rules has agreed to attend what is said to be the world's first "sexual abuse survivors' summit" to hear submissions at the Auckland University of Technology's North Shore campus on Sunday. Written submissions to the panel close today.
Rape Prevention Education survivor advocate Louise Nicholas said the summit was initiated by counsellors who were concerned that they could no longer help many of the victims of sexual crimes who came to them. "It's inhumane what's going on," she said. "The good thing about it is that this review panel want to attend the summit so they can talk to survivors face to face. We are looking at anywhere between 100 and 300 people if not more."
The new rules restrict ACC counselling to victims who have "a diagnosed mental injury resulting from sexual abuse or assault".
ACC claims manager Denise Cosgrove said this was laid down by law, but ACC was for many years "acting beyond its mandate and providing services to people not covered by its legislation". She said almost half (46 per cent) of the claims rejected in the six months to April came through a new emergency health service for sexual abuse victims and were declined "because at the time of lodgement for most people there is no mental injury, only an acute event".
Other claims were rejected because the client decided not to accept help (18 per cent), did not provide enough information (18 per cent), had "no new or clear mental injury" (7 per cent), the mental injury was not clearly due to the sexual abuse (6 per cent) or the sexual abuse was not established (4 per cent).
The Psychotherapists' Association representative on the ACC's sensitive claims advisory group, Kyle MacDonald, said even where a victim had been diagnosed with a mental illness, it was often difficult to pin the illness solely to being raped or sexually abused. "With childhood sexual abuse where there may be a 20-year or 30-year delay between abuse and presentation [for help], ultimately you can always find a reason to decline claims if you look hard enough," he said.
Counsellors' Association representative Elayne Johnston said ACC assessors did not seem to realise being raped was different from breaking a leg. "We're talking about people who've had a crime committed on them," she said.
Dr Barbara Disley, the former Mental Health Commission head who leads the four-person review panel, said the panel had met several professional associations and planned further meetings next week. She said the panel hoped to report back to Dr Smith by July 31.
ACC has recently made changes to their processes for victims/survivors of sexual violence. Opposition to these changes has been strong.
Minister for ACC Nick Smith has agreed to a review of the changes after 6 months. You can have your say in that review by telling us about your experience with ACC.
Survivors: You can tell us about your experience by
1. Filling in this online survey
2. Telling your story to Louise Nicholas, by emailing her at louise@rapecrisis.org.nz
NB: We want to use your story anonymously to communicate with ACC and the public, so it is important that you are happy with that.
The government-appointed Independent Review Panel for ACC’s contentious new Clinical Pathway joins others at SOSA’s (Survivors of Sexual Abuse) invitation for June 20th inaugural Summit at AUT North Shore Campus.
This gives survivors the opportunity to have their say about what services they need from ACC, as well as have fun, be inspired and pampered, take back power, find their voices and unite.
“It's about time survivors had their say,” says the initiator of this important day, Dr Gudrun Freirichs. “The NZ government and ACC are part of the silencing by relying heavily on the medical profession and labelling us mentally ill. If we don’t fit the diagnosis, they are washing their hands of us while our perpetrators get unlimited help and counselling in prison programmes or the SAFE Network.
“Why lock up sexual perpetrators if what they do to their victims doesn’t warrant government support?” she asks. “Given that 1 in 4 females and 1 in 10 males experience sexual abuse by the age of 18 means that there are plenty of perpetrators out there interested in silencing us.”
Dr Freirichs goes on to say that sexual abuse destroys individuals and families. “This has to stop”, she says. Frierichs encourages speaking out, “Survivors need to know they are not alone.”
Well-known survivors Louise Nicholas and Aaron Gilmore from Dancing with the Stars will speak at the hui. Artist Tania Blomfeld organiser of “Courageous Women” t-shirts is running the art workshop, while Labour MP Lynne Pillay will give the forum a political edge.
Join the fight for recognition and better services by registering at www.sosanz.com until Friday 11th, or pay $20.00 at the door. SOSA organisers are encouraging registration using a pseudonym, should that feel more anonymous.
Louise Nicholas says she intends to use her public profile to help the silent survivors of sexual abuse in her new national role as a "survivor advocate". Mrs Nicholas, who will report to a government taskforce on sexual violence, officially announced her role in Auckland last night.
Mrs Nicholas was speaking at the launch of a self-help book for the survivors of sexual abuse, written by the director of Rape Prevention Education, Dr Kim McGregor. She was joined by Dancing With the Stars dancer Aaron Gilmore, a survivor of sexual abuse and a volunteer for the organisation.
Dr McGregor said the role formalised what Mrs Nicholas had already been doing since her high-profile rape case against former police officers Brad Shipton, Bob Schollum and Clint Rickards. All three were acquitted, and it was revealed later that Shipton and Schollum had been convicted in 2005 of the pack rape of another woman in Mt Maunganui in 1989.
Mrs Nicholas has been given government funding for a year to collect the stories of other sexual violence victims for schools, health professionals and policymakers.
Figures showed 24 per cent of Auckland women and 28 per cent of North Waikato women were abused by the age 15 and 32 per cent of Otago women (out of nearly 500 interviewed in the early 1990s) were abused before the age of 16.
Mrs Nicholas said her role was to be an advocate for survivors of sexual violence. "I see the role as a voice to speak for those who can't speak for themselves."
She started work as a full-time "survivor advocate" for RPE in Auckland on July 12, and has already spent two weeks supporting a rape victim through an Auckland court case.
After her experiences Mrs Nicholas said she had heard from the "silent survivors". "It just tears at my heart.
"These women say to me we have got the courage to do what you've done because of you.
"That's huge, to be able to admit that, there's no shame in that.
"Eventually I would like to see this role extended across the country so there are many of us helping other sexual abuse survivors."
Gilmore, 29, who was sexually abused by a woman 25 years older than him from age 11 to 17 has recently become a volunteer for RPE.
Gilmore's abuser was convicted several years ago and he hopes he will give other survivors, particularly men the strength to come forward. "The only thing more common than sexual abuse is the cold."
Gilmore said he was an anomaly when he first went to police because he was a male victim with a female offender. A policeman to whom he first spoke about the abuse told him he failed to see what the crime was. "My first experiences with the legal side of things were quite horrible."
Dr McGregor said sexual violence had fallen off the political agenda over the last 20 years. There were 25 rape crisis groups in the 1980s and now there were about 12, she said. "I feel more positive now than I have in 20 years and that's because of the taskforce on sexual violence and that is a result of the bravery of Louise Nicholas.
"We started campaigning for the taskforce on the back of the marches throughout the country in outrage over the acquittals.
"Even though it has been a devastating thing for her (Mrs Nicholas), she has made it a positive thing."
Nine months ago the conditions under which sexual abuse survivors could gain support under ACC changed. In the meantime 95% of survivors have been denied the professional help they need. Cuts continue to be driven under the “new clinical pathway” disguise, despite wide-ranging protests that seem to fall on deaf governmental ears. From this, the need arose to bring together survivors for networking and to find alternative ways towards recovery. This gave birth to SOSA (Survivors of Sexual Abuse) a non-profit, bi-cultural organisation. Like-minded volunteer survivors came together to create a day of unity, strength and inspiration.
SOSA’s vision is to carefully lift the shroud of silence and thereby re-claim power from a political and social environment currently perceived as re-traumatising and marginalising. We believe this summit is not a 'one-off', but the first of many. SOSA is being established as a charitable society that can then function as a survivor union, organising summits, giving courses, becoming politically active, and maybe even striving towards generating a funding source for those survivors who struggle to get funding for treatment.
This inaugural day-long hui takes place at AUT on the North Shore on the shortest day of the year – Sunday 20th June 2010. The symbolism of the darkest night of mid winter represents the darkness that many face when beginning their journey of recovery from such trauma.
A song written for this event will open the day at 9am. Louise Nicholas will pave the way for 8 other inspiring speakers, including MP Lynne Pillay to talk about their courageous journeys. Working through trauma can be debilitating and excruciatingly painful. Shame, self-blame and self-hatred are often taken on by survivors until the are able to give back these feelings to whom they really belong – the perpetrators of the abuse.
Creativity release is one way of working through this healing journey, therefore art and writing/poetry workshops will be offered for those in a creative mood. Wellpark College of Naturopathy are in charge of encouraging self-care – participants will enjoy safe massage, relaxation, aromatherapy, yoga and Ayurvedic ways of pampering. A soothing, meditational dance workshop will be led by an experienced mind/body therapist for those who prefer to be more active. So much choice, do it all, or just chat, mingle and have fun!
Comfort spaces will be set aside for those who may require a quiet space. Other survivors will display their crafts – harakeke (flax) weaving will be demonstrated and stunning bead work can be bought. New and second hand books about healing will be for sale. Nourishing and nurturing soups for lunch, teas and coffees are all included in the entry fee.
An informal forum will take place before day's end to korero about finding ways of getting better services, and the much needed help for survivors of sexual abuse. These findings will be delivered to government and will clearly demonstrate that survivors know best what works for them.
The gathering will take place with safety for all in mind. Places are limited so register now on www.sosanz.com. The entry fee is $15, going up to $20 a week before the summit to cover the cost of food. It is essential to register on the website beforehand.
We welcome all survivors, their supporters or those affected by another’s abuse to come into the light and join us on this important day in history. Please register at www.sosanz.com as soon as possible as numbers will be limited. Entry will be gained only by registering on the website and with a month to go, the time to do it is now!
We are unashamedly asking for support and donations, so that we can finance this day of hope. Please, push the donate button on www.sosanz.com and help survivors gain voice and advocacy. We very much appreciate your support.
In these enlightened times we deliberately choose to use language to more accurately describe the types of attitudes we think are morally important for society as a whole. For this reason we refer to people who have experienced sexual abuse as survivors, and try to avoid calling Maori cannibals ...
A press release from the Labour Party by Lynne Pillay
Prime Minister John Key should reprimand ACC Minister Nick Smith for his attempts to bully sexual abuse survivor Louise Nicholas, Labour’s Victims Rights spokesperson Lynne Pillay says.
“Dr Smith today initially denied having bullied Louise Nicholas when she sought to make a time to meet with him to give him t-shirts detailing the abuse members the Courageous Women’s group had suffered and their concerns about the National Government-introduced ACC guidelines,” Lynne Pillay said.
“Bizarrely, after having denied bullying Ms Nicholas, Dr Smith then tabled an email which clearly showed that he had allowed staff members to listen in on his private conversation, and that staff members had then emailed John Key’s office about the phone call. Louise Nicholas has confirmed Dr Smith never informed her he was allowing staff members to listen in on the phone call and that she was indeed bullied.
“Why were staff members from John Key and Nick Smith’s office having email conversations about the phone call that was made to Louise Nicholas if there was no problem? It is simply unacceptable for Nick Smith to contact someone about concerns they have on sexual abuse guidelines and secretly allow other people to listen in. This is disgraceful.
“National’s guidelines on sexual abuse have resulted in a rapid increase in the number of sexual abuse survivors being denied counselling support by ACC. The Minister has consistently refused to acknowledge the problem and now he is bullying people who legitimately try and raise concerns with him.
“Labour calls on John Key to take action against Dr Smith and his unacceptable behaviour,” Lynne Pillay said.
A pile of t-shirts has become the source of a stoush between sexual abuse survivors and the ACC Minister, who the high profile anti-abuse advocate Louise Nicholas has accused of bullying. Nicholas wanted to present the shirts expressing concerns about counselling cuts to Nick Smith. But he turned her down in a phone call she claims was bullying and intimidating, something he denies.
Labour deputy leader Annette King read a message high-profile anti-rape advocate Louise Nicholas had hoped to deliver in person to Smith, along with 33 other messages written on t-shirts by abuse survivors.
"'I was raped. Now I have to fight ACC for counselling. When do I get to stop fighting?' Well, that's a pretty powerful message," says King.
But he turned Nicholas down in a phone call which she says was bullying and intimidating.
"For myself who has actually gone through, you know, bullies before, it was like being re-victimised all over again. It was this power and control attitude that came through," says Nicholas.
Labour took her cause to the house and tackled the Minister about the phone call, "berating and bullying her, saying the courageous women who signed t-shirts were part of a fiasco and a media circus," said King.
Smith firmly denied King's claims. "I totally reject the assertions that the member has made," he said. The Minister confirms he made the comments described. But staff who listened in on the conversation say in no way was he bullying, angry or aggressive.
Nicholas, who has had plenty of battles in the past, sees it differently. "I was saddened and I was frustrated that I was unable to do my job which is survivor advocate," she says. She says she is still hoping to get the Minister to listen to the voices of victims.
ACC Minister Nick Smith has been accused of bullying a woman who is protesting the Accident Compensation Corporation's policy on funding of counselling for sexual abuse victims.
The Labour Party questioned Dr Smith in Parliament on Thursday about the policy introduced last year which restricts counselling to those who suffer from a diagnosed mental injury.
Labour says it means many sexual abuse victims are not getting help and many are suicidal.
Dr Smith last week announced a review to assess the impact of the policy change.
In Parliament, Labour's deputy leader Annette King asked Dr Smith why he telephoned Louise Nicholas, who was at the centre of the police rape investigations and who is protesting the policy, "berating and bullying her, saying the courageous women who signed T-shirts to highlight their concerns at his policy were part of a fiasco and a media circus, and if she wanted to speak out the only appropriate forum was his review," she told the House.
Dr Smith rejects Ms King's assertion, but says it was appropriate to direct Ms Nicholas to the review.
LYNNE PILLAY (Labour) to the Minister for ACC: Why does there need to be a review of ACC’s sensitive claims clinical pathway to determine whether or not survivors of sexual abuse are receiving timely decision making and services?
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister for ACC): Changes were made by the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) to the way that it manages sensitive claims, in response to new Massey University guidelines launched by the Hon Steve Maharey in 2008. I have been extremely reluctant to interfere in clinical practice issues in such a sensitive area, but in response to concerns from counsellors and psychotherapists I agreed to establish an independent clinical review.
Lynne Pillay: Why does the Minister continue to say that he is focused on delivering to victims of sexual abuse, when clinicians, victims, and Massey University have all repeatedly told him that the guidelines he introduced fail to deliver timely services? For example, it was reported today that a 15-year-old who was raped is still waiting, after 4 months.
Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Professional groups, like the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners, have issued a statement strongly in support of ACC’s pathway for dealing with sensitive claims. If the member has a particular case about which she has concerns, I invite her to refer it to Dr Barbara Disley, a very respected former mental health commissioner, who is to lead the review. I have to say I am disappointed that the member was not interested in even being consulted on the personnel or terms of reference of the review.
Dr Jackie Blue: What trend has there been in ACC’s acceptance rate of sensitive claims since 2000, and can the Minister confirm that 2,400 claims were rejected in 2008 by the previous Government?
Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The member makes a very good point. Between 2000 and 2008 the rate of rejection of sensitive claims grew from just 5 percent to 41 percent. [Interruption] The member Annette King is shouting out about caring. Where was she? What did she or Lynne Pillay do when 2,400 sensitive claims were rejected in 2008? They were silent, and that shows that this is simply about Opposition politics, rather than genuinely caring for people who have been sexually—
Hon Gerry Brownlee: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. This question relates to matters that are extremely sensitive, yet I think the Minister is doing his best to answer. It does not help when a Labour front-bencher is calling across the House: “You are a liar.” I think the Hon Ruth Dyson should be asked to apologise for making those comments.
Mr SPEAKER: Because I did not hear them, I have to ask the honourable member whether she made that interjection. If she did, I would ask her to withdraw and apologise.
Hon Ruth Dyson: Yes, I did, and I withdraw and apologise.
Mr SPEAKER: I realise that this is an issue on which people have very strong feelings, and that is why I do not insist on silence. This is a place of passionate debate. I felt the Minister was handling the level of interjection pretty competently, and that was why I did not interfere, but that kind of interjection is unacceptable.
Lynne Pillay: Was the decision to deny counselling to sexual abuse victims part of the directive from the Deputy Prime Minister, Bill English, to cut low-value spending, and how long will it be before the Minister realises he cannot continue to cut services to people without disastrous consequences?
Hon Dr NICK SMITH: I have made it abundantly plain to ACC that I have no expectations of any cost savings in respect of sensitive claims. I have had no involvement in the changes that have been made in this area, and members opposite know that. The changes are based on Massey University’s clinical guidelines, which were launched by the Hon Steve Maharey in 2008. The claims from the member are simply incorrect.
Lynne Pillay: Why would ACC host another costly workshop, advertised to be held on 7 May, to explore gaps in services that have arisen because of the guidelines; and if the Minister’s own department knows there are gaps in services being provided to sexual abuse victims, why does not the Minister?
Hon Dr NICK SMITH: This Government is determined to ensure that people entitled to receive accident compensation cover in this highly sensitive area of sexual abuse or assault receive the care they need. That is why on Monday I announced an independent clinical review. I think it speaks volumes about the member that when I offered to consult her both about the membership and the terms of reference of the review, she said she was not interested. She just wants to play politics in this sensitive area.
Lynne Pillay: I seek leave to table an email advertisement from the Accident Compensation Corporation about its workshop identifying gaps in services for the victims of serious assault.
Mr SPEAKER: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is no objection.
Document, by leave, laid on the Table of the House.
Hon Phil Goff: How does the Minister account for the fact that in October 2008 300 victims of sexual abuse had been approved for counselling, and by February this year that figure had dropped to six?
Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The member’s numbers are quite incorrect. They are not true. I would ask that member, if he wants to make politics out of something as tragic and difficult as sexual abuse and neglect—
Hon Phil Goff: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. [Interruption]
Mr SPEAKER: A point of order has been called.
Hon Phil Goff: The Minister answering the question is not answering the question. He embarked on a diatribe about my making politics of the issue. I asked a straight, factual question; he should address it.
Mr SPEAKER: The Minister did answer the question—in fact, quite specifically—the minute he said the member’s figures were wrong. The Minister should not have gone on from that point, because it is correct that the question was not loaded with political comment. But the Minister’s answer was that he considered that the member’s figures were wrong. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1004/S00358.htm
An article from the New Zealand Herald by Simon Collins
A review of new rules for sexual abuse counselling has come too late to save a South Auckland mother who died four days after her claim for ACC-funded counselling was rejected.
Counselling Services Centre manager Emma Castle said the mother-of-three's claim for counselling for sexual abuse she had suffered as a child was rejected by ACC two months ago on the grounds that she had not suffered "a significant mental injury".
"The counsellor who submitted the claim made it very clear that sexual abuse was the reason why she had suicidal ideation and was self-harming," Ms Castle said. "It took them six months to make that decision. Four days after receiving notification that the ACC claim was denied, the client passed away."
The new rules provide ACC-subsidised counselling only for victims with a diagnosed mental condition caused by sexual abuse, and generally only for up to 16 weeks before a further review.
ACC Minister Nick Smith announced yesterday that the rules would be reviewed by a four-person panel chaired by former Mental Health Commissioner Dr Barbara Disley. The other panel members are Auckland University psychiatrist Professor Graham Mellsop, Ruth Herbert of the lobby group Roundtable on Violence Against Women and psychologist Clive Banks of Porirua Maori mental health agency Rangataua Mauriora.
The co-chair of the national sexual violence network, Dr Kim McGregor, said the team did not include anyone who worked day to day with survivors of sexual violence.
The network had nominated Louise Nicholas, a high-profile survivor who is now an advocate with Rape Prevention Education, alongside psychologists Nicola Gavey and Fred Seymour, High Court Judge Ailsa Duffy and Maori lawyer Moana Jackson.
"None of our specialist experts that work day to day with survivors of sexual violence, and have done for decades, have been chosen to be part of this review," Dr McGregor said.
She said the rules had caused a virtual "collapse" of sexual abuse counselling, with cases approved by ACC down from 472 in the first two months of last year to just 32 in the same period this year.
The Association of Counsellors' representative on the ACC's sensitive claims advisory group, Elayne Johnston, said a 15-year-old girl who was raped over Christmas had still not received counselling because ACC required her to be assessed by a psychologist to see whether she had suffered a "mental injury".
Dr McGregor said almost all of the 600 to 700 private counsellors who were registered for ACC-funded work had stopped taking applicants for ACC subsidies since the new rules took effect because of an ethical objection to labelling assault victims as mentally ill.
Survivors were now going to rape crisis agencies instead, but the agencies could not cope because they had also lost funding.
The review panel has been asked to identify any changes required to "ensure that ACC is delivering timely decision-making and services to clients with a mental injury caused by sexual assault or sexual abuse".
It is due to report to Dr Smith by July 31.
Louise Nicholas, Survivor Advocate for Rape Prevention Education, is absolutely disgusted with ACC Sensitive Claim Unit's (SCU) proposed changes that will make it harder for survivors of rape and sexual abuse to access therapy.
Currently survivors have 4 sessions with a counsellor to disclose their abuse experiences before their claim is assessed for ongoing therapy. Often survivors will choose to have ongoing therapy with the counsellor that they have already built a relationship with.
The new Clinical Pathway which is proposed to come into effect 14th September 2009, will make the survivor tell their "story" three times to three different professionals and they can be declined help at any stage in this process; they have to 'prove' they have a mental injury which fits the criteria for a psychiatric problem.
A person who has been affected by rape or sexual abuse can take many years to disclose their trauma.
Finding someone who they can trust to disclose to is often a major issue as there are many barriers that need to be dealt with before they even get to the stage of being able to talk about the actual abuse incident.
Many survivors, especially children, are threatened by the perpetrator with loss of their lives or whanau and friends lives if they tell, or "no-one will believe you if you tell, you will be called a liar".
The importance of being able to heal and move on with your life often literally lies in the hands of the counsellor that you have come to trust.
I am shocked to see that ACC state that "shorter term therapy is more beneficial for clients than longer term therapy".
Many survivors, including myself, speak about the difficulty in being able to open up and talk about their experiences which needs to be at their own pace and with someone they trust which is vital in their healing process.
The ACC Draft Clinical Pathways Provider Workshop that I attended in Auckland this month, was not about seeking "better services" for survivors; in my opinion it was obviously about cutting costs.
I viewed it as taking vital resources away from counsellors and specialist service providers and putting them into the costs of assessments by clinical psychologists.
In 2004/2005 I had to give up my full time employment due to the stress of the Police investigation into the rapes I endured by members of the NZ Police. I wanted to return to ACC subsidised counselling and seek an increase to my Independence Allowance (of $7.00 per week) from ACC. To have this happen I was offered a return flight to Auckland and a couple of hours with a psychologist who would determine whether or not I had a mental injury. ACC were prepared to pay $3,000.00 for this assessment. I had to decline the assessment as the ACC reviewing psychologist would be required to use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSMIV) to diagnose a mental injury. Once I was labelled with a DSMIV (psychiatric) diagnosis defence counsel could use this diagnosis against me in court.
Rape and sexual abuse is a crime that is committed upon a person by another person deliberately causing harm. It is not like a self inflicted recreational or sporting injury.
The effect of this new Clinical Pathway is likely to be detrimental to not only survivors of rape and sexual abuse but also to agencies, mental health services and other specialist service providers who will have to take on many more survivors who are likely to be declined for subsidised counselling through ACC.
These agencies are also likely to be weighed down by the extra workloads that will inevitably see even more specialist services crumble under the weight of inadequate funding and resources.
I ask that ACC not proceed with the new Clinical Pathways on the 14th September and that ACC truly consult with the counsellors who work on a day to day basis with survivors of sexual violence - not those ACC paid professionals who are removed from the day to day realities that survivors face when trying to access the services they need to keep themselves alive and functioning in the world.
If any survivors would like to contact me about this issue my email address is louise@rapecrisis.org.nz
I am about to begin a tour of the country in the next few months visiting most of the agencies (depending on how far my travel budget can stretch) that work to support survivors of sexual violence. I would like to hear from survivors and those who work with them about the supports you need in your area. I look forward to hearing from agencies and survivors that would like me to visit them.
