Survivor summit speech

A speech by Lynne Pillay delivered at the SOSA Summit, Auckland

Kia ora, good afternoon.
I stand before you today as Labour Spokesperson for Victims’ Rights and like so many people here a staunch campaigner and advocate for a return to a fair and just support system for survivors of sexual abuse.
Thanks to Gudrun, and the team of organisers, for bringing us here for the very first sexual abuse survivors' summit/hui. Congratulations on taking the initiative to make this happen and to give us an opportunity to share experiences and strengthen our collective voice. I am proud to be part of it.
I want to acknowledge the survivors who are here and also those who are not. The last several months have been a gruelling time for so many – counsellors, psychotherapists, professionals working in organisations who support survivors, advocates and even members of parliament. But it has been the hardest for survivors of sexual abuse who have been re-victimised by a cruel experiment which has had terrible consequences and has deprived them of the support they need and deserve. Thank you for your courage in being prepared to tell your stories – it has been effective and it has reinforced why the government MUST be challenged and held to account.
Can I make a special mention of the ACC Sensitive Claims panel who I understand have made the time to be here today. Former Mental Health Commissioner Dr Barbara Disley, Clinical psychologist Clive Banks, tireless community worker Ruth Herbert, and Professor Graham Mellsop. Thank you for being here. Thank you for listening. I am hearing positive things and I am cautiously optimistic. 
I do want to clarify issues with respect to the Review that relates to my Labour colleagues and me. Minister Nick Smith wrote to us earlier this year and asked us if we would like to view the terms of reference in confidence. We declined. We wrote back to the Minister asking for an urgent return to the status quo as we had enough real evidence and statistical information to know the new ACC-created pathway was not working, and that a restoration of something that did work was the first priority. We maintained that a review could be done in parallel while sexual abuse survivors could access help through the old process. Furthermore, we objected to being involved in any Terms of Reference which would be ‘in secret or in confidence’ – especially when connected to an issue that many people have fought for transparency and truth on.
Labour’s objections have been around the evidence, or the evident truths that survivors and sexual abuse experts alerted us to late last year. Their stories of frustration, desperation, and rage have continued and escalated since. We didn’t pluck this out of a hat and we have always been aware that we are dealing with a very sensitive issue and with people who must be treated with respect and dignity.
Last year there was the consultation with the sector on ACC’s ‘new pathway’ for sensitive claims. We assumed that consultation and the pathway was around the Massey Guidelines of 2008. Soon after, experts in the sector started contacting me with concerns. Many were very worried. There was a two week delay in the introduction of the new ACC-created pathway and finally, in October last year, a petition to delay implementation. 
The New Zealand Association of Psychotherapists (NZAP), the New Zealand Association of Counsellors (NZAC), the New Zealand Association of Christian Counsellors (NZACC), the New Zealand Association of Social Workers (NZASW) and almost 4000 people signed that petition. They stated:

All professionals involved in the treatment of these clients in New Zealand agree: that these proposed changes are clinically unsound, and contrary to ACC’s statutory requirement to provide treatment that conforms "to best clinical practice".
Under the changes ACC want to make it harder to get funding by making a diagnosis of mental illness a requirement. Furthermore they propose limiting funding to only sixteen sessions.
They also expect clients to disclose the assault(s) and then wait, with no counselling to happen until ACC has approved the claim. This process of approval currently takes weeks, sometimes months.
ACC claim to follow a recent research report titled “Massey Guidelines, 2008” yet have mis-interpreted the research report and used it to justify reduced funding for treatment.

At that time David Parker, Labour Spokesperson for ACC, and I met with Nick Smith, Dr Peter Jansen and ACC Officials to discuss our concerns about the ACC imposed pathway. We pushed to delay the implementation on the basis that the pathway was at completely at odds with the Massey Guidelines of which the first principle was about client safety. In fact the pathway had been described by many as unsafe, dangerous and would only serve to re-traumatise survivors. It became obvious that there was never going to be a meeting of minds and that the purpose of the meeting was to persuade us that the ACC pathway was in the best interest of all. I thought it would be helpful to point out to Dr Jansen that like me, a former nurse, as a GP he had no real understanding of this highly specialist work. It wasn’t helpful – Dr Jansen told me he was getting very angry. I was very tempted to advise him to see a counsellor!
Sadly, our combined efforts were unable to stop the introduction and the worries and concerns about what would happen after 27 October 2009, depressingly, came true.
Here we are seven days short of eight months later and the ACC-created pathway is still with us, with all the fallout – hundreds of counsellors and psychotherapists who are unable to do this work as they believe it is unsafe and unethical, the harsh system which discourages people from seeking help, for those in the system the moving of the goal posts so that virtually no one is eligible for treatment.
Examples include declining counselling for children who have been raped, rape victims still waiting after months for confirmation of counselling, people having to be deemed to have a mental illness to receive any assistance, the ludicrous situation where a survivor states that she is coping and is diagnosed as “in remission from depression” and is therefore ineligible for counselling – that same woman ending up in critical care with an overdose days later.  And the list goes on and on.
All of this was entirely preventable because people had predicted and warned of what would happen.
There has been a campaign to confuse and undermine around the new ACC-created pathway. The Minister is the biggest culprit. He has answered questions saying the ACC-created pathway was the Massey Guidelines, or based on the Massey guidelines. He has claimed all sorts of endorsements of the ACC-created pathway. First from the Royal NZ College of GPs – who said later it was the Massey Guidelines evidence they were welcoming. He claimed the RANZ College of Psychiatrists endorsed the ACC-created pathway when they had not. He backed away somewhat when Massey University wrote this letter:

Sir,
You reported on October 28 that ACC Minister Nick Smith says the changes to rules for sex abuse claims were developed by Massey University. This is not correct.
The new ACC guidelines for sensitive claims, which ACC calls "clinical pathways" were developed by ACC itself. Staff of Massey University did develop sexual abuse and mental injury practice guidelines, which were launched last year and have been used successfully and without controversy by sensitive claims counsellors throughout New Zealand since then.
James Gardiner
Communications Director, Massey University, Auckland
October 29 2009

I often regret resorting to statistics because I know there is a person behind every statistic. I know there are families and their supporters and they are not counted in any statistic. What these statistics measure is the most personal declaration from a person who finds the courage to say the words "I was abused". Often they have marshalled support to take charge of their lives after others have taken control over their bodies. Statistics don’t mention the people who have not yet had the courage to make the first step. In statistics they do not yet exist.
So I apologise that I must quote from statistics but I am trying to hold the Minister and ACC accountable and gain documentation from a Government on behalf of the people. I submit Parliamentary questions to the Minister on a regular basis but I am appalled that official statistics have become increasingly more difficult to obtain under this Minister for ACC.
Around 200-250 people used to be approved for ACC-funded counselling each month in New Zealand prior to the introduction of the ACC-created pathway. 
Let me tell you what happened when I asked the Minister in April this year. I asked how many people had been approved for ACC-funded counselling in February 2010 and here is the answer from Nick Smith (Written question 01771 2010): Six people. When Phil Goff took this up with him in Question Time in Parliament he huffed and said that those figures were provisional, "it is double that now". Well, we did the maths ... 12 people. Twelve people can start their journey to heal. But now he will not update these figures. We suspect the new system is creating its own internal embarrassment especially as it has introduced two additional data categories entitled "Awaiting necessary external information" and "Under assessment for claims decision by ACC". Whatever happened to "Approved", "Pending" and "Declined"? Most people seem to be languishing in these new categories and the Minister has yet to provide the updated figures.
Just this week (2 June) Nick Smith responded to a repeated written question from me asking for updated figures from November 2009:

Question: What are the numbers of sensitive claims, lodged, accepted, declined, awaiting external information, under assessment by ACC for claims decision and duplicate, by region for November 2009?
Answer: I am unable to provide the Member with a full and accurate response within the required timeframe.  The information will be supplied to the Member as soon as it is available.

I would have thought figures from November 2009 would be available. Why on earth would they not be? 
But here we are in a room where there is transparency and truth. If any of you wish to look I have brought along with me all the oral questions Labour MPs have asked Nick Smith. If nothing else the answers are consistent although not true – the pathway is supported by professionals and it is based on the Massey Guidelines.
Whenever we feel thwarted or outraged by these sorts of answers or lack of answers Phil Goff, Annette King, David Parker and I continue to come back to the evidence of people’s experiences. We must honour people’s experiences and keep demanding that their voices be heard. That is why we raise this injustice time and time again in Parliament, in the media and in communities. It’s neither fair nor just and it certainly has not been transparent or truthful.
Truth and transparency are vital aspects of all of our professional and personal lives. It is what we strive for; we may miss the mark sometimes, but we come back to the first principles that the ‘truth must come out’ and ‘sunlight is the best disinfectant’. Breaches of trust range from minor, through to offences from which many find it almost impossible to find their way back from. But the human journey has been characterised by many stories of redemption and triumph over adversity. The people in this room know what I am talking about. I commend you and I along with my colleagues will continue to fight alongside you to restore a system where survivors of sexual abuse are able to access the support the need and deserve.
Thank you.

Dancing star supports abuse summit

A news report from TVNZ

A Kiwi celebrity is putting his weight behind New Zealand's first ever Sexual Abuse Survivors' Summit drawing on his personal experience to help others.
Aaron Gilmore of Dancing with the Stars fame was abused for more than five years and will draw on his experience to be a key speaker at the summit tomorrow.
He was just 12-years-old when he was first sexually abused by a woman 23 years his senior.
"When I first met her she was very, very kind and caring so to have someone that was showing that interest, it was like a second mum," Gilmore says.
The woman continued the abuse for more than five years.
"There's a real learned helplessness about it and also I saw it as my fault," Gilmore says.
However, the abuse did not stop Gilmore from going on to have a successful dancing career and now he is using that profile to raise awareness about male sexual abuse ahead of the summit.
Organising committe member Gudrun Frerichs says it is often much more acceptable for females to go to counselling or to seek help but males tend to deal with things by themselves.
It is thought the number of boys abused before they hit 16 is around one in eight but Ken Clearwater who heads the Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse Trust says it is closer to one in three.
"It's just the fact that men and boys really struggle to come forward in our male culture to talk about being a victim of childhood sexual abuse or even adult men who've been raped, it's really hard for them to come forward and disclose that" says Clearwater.
Some researchers suggest the country's prisons hold many male sexual abuse victims, which is because studies show males often respond to their abuse violently later in life.
The summit already has around 100 people registered to attend and less than a quarter of those are men.

Copyright 2010 Television New Zealand Limited
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/dancing-star-supports-abuse-summit-3598432

ACC failing to help most sex abuse victims

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.

Copyright 2010 APN Holdings NZ Ltd
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10652658&pnum=0

Feel the fear and do it anyhow

A blog entry from SOSA

Since we have decided to start SOSA NZ and organise the summit - which is only 6 days away - we have had a very mixed bag of responses of which the most heart wrenching were connections we have made with survivors...

Read the rest of this entry at http://gfrerichs.typepad.com/sashui/2010/06/feel-the-fear-and-do-it-anyhow.html

ACC Review Panel joins conference

A press release from SOSA

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.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1006/S00086.htm

Sexual abuse survivors fight back after support is cut

An article from Te Waha Nui by Michelle Norton

Feeling neglected by the Government’s ACC shake-up, a group of sexual abuse survivors, counsellors and therapists have taken action.
Those who have been sexually abused are now required to prove a mental illness to get help and are now only given 16 weeks of counselling.
Survivors of Sexual Abuse NZ (SOSA) have organised a summit to be held on June 20 at AUT University’s Akoranga campus.
Karen Andersen, one of the organisers, said the organising team was a group of around 10 people who were either therapists or sexual abuse survivors and some who were both.
Yvie Stewart, a sexual abuse survivor and one of the sunmit organisers, said they were hoping to fill up the lecture theatre with around 200 people.
The summit programme has several guest speakers, including sexual abuse survivor Louise Nicholas, Labour MP Lynne Pillay, Denise Ritchie from End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for Commercial Sexual Purposes (ECPAT) and Ken Clearwater from Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse Trust (MSSAT).
Stewart is also going to speak and she said it had taken her a while to be able to do so. “It was like stepping through an iron door that I had in front of me and coming through it.”
She said it was more than just a summit. “It is about how we can help where the Government is not.” She said they wanted to send a message out to those who have been sexually abused were not seeking help.
Andersen agreed. “Many survivors feel so alone and have been put back socially.” She said everyone affected by sexual abuse had a different healing experience and recovery was about “finding one’s own strength”.
Labour MP and associate spokesperson for victim’s rights Lynne Pillay said she willingly signed up to speak at the summit. “I am very in awe and impressed with all the work that’s being done. I really welcome the summit.’
Pillay said she encouraged people to take part in the independent review of ACC in June.
Andersen said there may be a small number attending the summit that want to take political action such as write letters to Parliament but this was not the intent. She said they were hoping to provide “a sense of wellbeing, a sense of being inspired”. “They can see that others have forged ahead.”
Pillay said survivors of sexual abuse had been badly treated by the policy changes. “We need to return to the previous system where survivors were given the help they need and deserve.
“The majority of people are either being denied help or are languishing, waiting to see whether they will get help.
“I think that the way they’ve been treated is abhorrent.”

http://www.tewahanui.info/wordpress2/?p=3519

The Independent Review of ACC's Clinical Pathway at the Summit

A blog entry from SOSA

The government has appointed a panel of four professionals with the task to review ACC's new Clinical Pathway. Survivors, therapists, and other health professionals are invited to make submissions for the review panel to consider. Submissions can be sent to: ClinicalPathwayReviewSubmissions@researchnz.com.
The members of the Review Panel have agreed to accept our invitation to come to the summit so that attending survivors have the opportunity to talk to them about their experiences with the new pathway. This is a unique opportunity for survivors to be heard.
So don't delay and register here for the summit. Not only will you have the opportunity to speak to the review panel, you also can listen to inspirational male and female speakers, part take in interesting workshops, and try out some lovely pampering like massage or yoga.

http://gfrerichs.typepad.com/sashui/2010/06/the-independent-review-of-accs-clinical-pathway-at-the-summit.html

Louise Nicholas to open inaugrual SOSA NZ summit

A press release from SOSA

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.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1005/S00256.htm