The Swamp Report: Paula Bennett

Showing posts with label Paula Bennett. Show all posts

05 May 2014

Extra funding welcome

An editorial from the Otago Daily Times

Announcement of increased funding for sexual violence support services in next week's Budget, and full ACC funding of counselling for victims of sexual abuse and sexual assault, are welcome progress in this highly sensitive and increasingly pressured area.
Last Monday, the Accident Compensation Corporation announced it would fully fund sexual abuse victims' counselling as part of an overhaul of its sensitive claims systems next year. The changes would give claimants access to 48 therapy sessions over 12 months, more discretion to choose a counsellor, allow family members or support people to be included in treatment, and fund therapists to travel to isolated areas.
In a pre-Budget announcement on Wednesday, Social Development Minister Paula Bennett said the Government would allocate $10.4 million for sexual violence services during the next two years, saying that the sector required extra resourcing.
It clearly does. ACC is expecting an increase in sensitive claims of up to 10% each year until 2020 as a result of the reduced stigma around the reporting of sexual abuse. Police have already put the recent increase in sexual crime statistics (which are bucking the overall falling crime rate) down to increased reporting, rather than increased abuse.
It is pleasing the topic is coming out of the shadows. Worldwide, the message now is (thankfully) that survivors will be listened to when they speak out, that sexual abuse and assault is unacceptable and perpetrators can no longer hide. That reduces the stigma for victims and gives them confidence in speaking out.
But when they do, as well as justice, they often need considerable practical, financial and emotional support - in the form of counselling - to allow them to work through the abuse and hopefully enable them to live their lives as fully as possible.
Cuts to counselling have always been about "cost", but leaving survivors to deal with the repercussions of abuse by themselves is far more costly in the long term. Those who have had little or no support, and who may have endured childhood and/or long-term abuse, are plagued by issues of shame, blame, anger, loss, betrayal, trust, self-confidence and self-loathing, which may affect their daily lives and relationships, and can lead to alcohol and/or substance abuse and mental illness.
All of that costs the health system, and comes at a huge personal cost to individuals, families and communities. Frontline support services and longer-term counselling is essential.
The increased Government funding is therefore welcome, but the fanfare is not.
It must be remembered the Government's drastic and wide-ranging ACC cuts to ''sensitive claims'' funding, including counselling services, in 2009, caused consternation among service providers and survivors and led to drastically reduced numbers of claims being accepted. The corporation backed down a year later, after significant pressure, and reinstated 16 hours of counselling funding.
An independent panel reviewed ACC's sensitive claims clinical pathway in 2010 and made 14 recommendations, but a 2012 independent review by Dr Barbara Disley found there was still much progress to be made towards fully implementing all the recommendations.
The ACC, as a Crown entity, is charged with implementing the Accident Compensation Act 2001 and its role is ''to provide treatment, care and services for anyone who is injured in New Zealand'' with the view of enabling them to return to the workforce. There is undoubtedly huge pressure on the agency. ACC figures show in the 2012-13 year, it accepted 1.7 million new claims and spent more than $2 billion on claims and another $2 billion on hospital treatment and surgery, care and support, and compensation for people unable to work.
While the Government's tough stance on crime has paid off in some areas, it is important to remember there are still victims of crime in many areas who may face mental as well as physical injuries as a result of the trauma they have endured.
Survivors should not have to fight for support in such a sensitive area as sexual abuse, in which the smallest hurdle might put them off seeking life-changing help.

30 April 2014

Sexual violence counselling boost

A report from Radio New Zealand News

The Government has announced a $10 million funding boost in next month's budget for specialist sexual violence services.
Social development minister Paula Bennett says the increase will provide immediate stability for specialist services to help address current funding shortfalls. Ms Bennett says the sector requires extra resourcing, especially for making 24 hour, seven-days-a-week crisis call-out and emergency counselling services available. She says the money will be used to support frontline crisis-response and community-based treatment services, as well as male victims and those accessing medical and forensic services.
A Parliamentary inquiry is currently looking into the funding of specialist sexual violence services.
Ms Bennett says she couldn't wait for the outcome of the inquiry.
"The need is so great now, to be honest I'd done a lot of work on my cabinet and to get them to this point, there was no way I was going to delay them for another six months!
"I knew I had a shot of getting a bit of money in this year's budget so I was going to grab it with everything I had."
The Parliamentary inquiry has been told the sector is severely under-resourced and has lost about $6 million a year since changes to ACC in 2011 when it cut funding for sex abuse counselling.

Funding welcome
A rape prevention trust says the Government's funding boost will help stop the loss of trained staff from the sector.
Executive director of Rape Prevention Education, Kim McGregor says the sector has been underfunded for many decades. She says there's been a high level of burnout and it's been difficult to hold on to specialist trained staff.
Ms McGregor says the extra funding will help stabilise the sector in the short-term.

15 March 2014

Respect key to tackling sexual violence early

A press release from the New Zealand Government

ACC Minister Judith Collins has today announced a new school-based pilot project funded by the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) as part of its new focus on preventing sexual violence.
“Sexual violence has a significant effect on victims and families, resulting in substantial physical and mental health issues as well as social problems like poverty, addiction and suicide,” Ms Collins says.
“Encouraging a culture of respect is one of the most effective ways we can help to prevent sexual and dating violence. This pilot programme will teach young people the value of having healthy relationships based on respect, negotiation and consent.”
Recently ACC has made sexual violence prevention part of its core business focus and its first initiative in this area is a school-based pilot programme focussed on fostering healthy and respectful relationships.
In 2012/13, ACC spent $44 million on services for about 15,000 sensitive claims – the majority of which are related to sexual violence.
“There is some great work already being done by the sexual violence sector in schools but there is also recognition that we need to ensure these programmes have better national coordination, are consistent in content and ensure the best coverage possible,” Ms Collins says.
The school based programme is being developed with an Advisory Group made up of sexual violence sector representatives, interested community groups, government agencies and specialist academics, with input from students, parents and teachers. The programme will be a part of a wider programme of work led by Social Development Minister Paula Bennett.
The programme is still in its early stages of development and there will be further announcements on the specific content, providers, and schools that will be piloted in the third school term this year.

http://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/respect-key-tackling-sexual-violence-early

28 May 2013

Rape victims wait months for help

An article from the Dominion Post by Michelle Duff

Young rape victims are among those being forced to wait up to three months to see a counsellor, as sexual violence support services are stretched to capacity.
Social Development Minister Paula Bennett has called for a nationwide review into the sexual abuse support sector, as agencies call for funding to be linked to crime statistics.
The number of police victim referrals to sexual violence agencies has more than doubled in the past year in many centres, with a 21.9 per cent jump in sexual crimes reported in Wellington last year. Nationwide, reported sexual assaults rose by 14.9 per cent in 2011 and 1.3 per cent in 2012.
"It's a major social issue that's not going away in a hurry," Wellington Sexual Abuse HELP foundation manager Helen Sullivan said.
"We have seen a big increase in referrals in the last couple of years . . . between 600 to 700 new referrals coming to the agency each year. For us to say, ‘You're going to have to wait, pack away all your feelings and issues and wait for a couple of months,' is just not ideal," Sullivan said.
HELP offers a free service to men, women and children as young as 8. It has an agreement with police, who refer sexual violence victims to it. It received about $200,000 from Child, Youth and Family, making up the shortfall in grants, donations, and ACC sensitive-claims funding, Sullivan said.
But many crisis centres had come to rely heavily on the Ministry of Social Development's community response fund, introduced in 2009 during the economic downturn. It was stopped last year. For HELP and Wellington Rape Crisis, this amounted to $50,000 and $23,400 a year that they now had to find elsewhere.
Wellington Rape Crisis manager Natalie Gousmett said the struggling sector was in desperate need of dedicated funding. In the past three years, the number of people seeking a social worker at Wellington Rape Crisis had almost tripled.
"We would like to employ another counsellor, but we just can't. We know what we're doing is very important and very effective, but we can't fund it."
Evolve Wellington Youth Services, which provides health and social services for young people between 10 and 25, has just moved into bigger premises to meet increased demand. Manager Kirsten Smith said they were "stretched thin", with a wait of two to three months for counselling.
Manawatu Abuse and Rape Crisis support had seen a 60 per cent increase in police referrals in the past year alone, manager Ann Kent said. It was likely counselling services would be cut back by up to 14 hours, because of the funding shortfall.
Auckland HELP crisis services manager Aimee Stockenstroom said it had a "massive" waiting list for children, with 12 waiting to be seen.
"The police are doing a great job, but it would be great if the increase in reports of sexual assault and our funding could be linked."
Bennett said she had taken responsibility for the sexual violence support sector this year.
"I am currently investigating the funding provided to the sector to determine exactly where it comes from, what it is provided for, and if any of this money is being used to cross-subsidise other services.
"I'm also planning to look into the nature of services being provided by organisations around the country, and how accessible those services are for the people who need them."
Police did not respond to requests for comment yesterday.
ACC is currently redesigning the way sensitive claims are paid, which could mean that more agencies would become eligible for funding.
In 2012, Hawera Rape Crisis was forced to close, Auckland HELP had to shut down its 24-hour support line, and Wellington Rape Crisis almost closed one day a week until community support allowed it to stay open.