Gudrun Frerichs, PhD

ACC: No more funding for sexual abuse counselling

Time 's up for sexual abuse survivors! Shock waves have ripped through New Zealand’s sexual abuse survivors and therapists in the last 6 months since ACC has announced changes to funding sexual abuse counselling. Under the disguise of “following best practice” and the “ interest of clients” changes have been implemented that have been branded as assault on common sense, ethical practice, and psychological understanding of effective treatment for victims of sexual abuse.

A ground swell of protest from counsellors, psychotherapists, social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, doctors, and survivors has been ignored, fobbed off, or countered with slippery PR techniques applied by a strong front of government (Ministers and MPs) and ACC management who all sang the same gospel. Many therapists have withdrawn from accepting new ACC clients because under the new rules treatment cannot be provided safely and ethically.

No Funding For Recovery Instead Buy Yourself Some Clothes

The government plans to introduce new legislation in November that enables victims to access financial support through a scheme financed by the offender levy. Although Victim Support, Sensible Sentencing Trust, and Rethinking Crime and Punishment welcome the initiative, service providers for sexual abuse recovery are dumbfounded by yet another absurd policies recently presented.

“Another piece-meal of legislation poorly thought through. Full of good intentions but lacking the guts to resolve a problem comprehensively”.

Victims of sexual crimes will be eligible for a grant of $250 to replace items of clothing after a sexual assault. An insulting and bizarre idea considering that ACC  will stop funding sexual abuse counselling for these victims unless the assault has driven them over the edge and into mental illness. 

March Against ACC-Cuts

From October 27th, survivors of sexual violence will only be eligible for ACC funded counselling if they are first diagnosed with a mental illness.

Firstly, you don’t need to have a mental illness to need a few counselling sessions after going through a traumatic and disempowering experience. Why should a survivor miss out on services because he/she is not considered to be victimised enough?

Secondly, it shouldn’t be necessary to prove a mental state before being allowed access to services. Mental health diagnosis is not an exact science, particularly not with just the short sessions given for a psychiatric assessment. How many survivors will even feel comfortable talking about their abuse with a stranger from ACC whose only interest is seeing whether they have to fork out the cash?

Petition: Stop the Proposed Changes to the ACC Sensitive Claims Scheme

My colleague Kyle MacDonald initiated a petition to stop the implementation of the proposed changes to the ACC scheme. Please, find more information about the changes further down on this blog. If you too feel passionate about maintaining opportunities for survivors of sexual abuse, we invite you to sign the petition as well. Every voice counts! Here is what Kyle wrote:

NZ Psychotherapist Association challenges ACC

Excerpts from NZAP feedback to ACC:

We continue to have serious concerns about the proposed pathway. 

 We urge ACC to stop commencement of the proposed pathway.  Further consultation and integration of discussion with providers needs to happen and there cannot be adequate consultation with ACC’s deadline looming.

To reiterate the main points of disagreement:

Super Survivor Mouse - Survivors of Sexual Abuse Fight Back!

The following cartoon was inspired by a survivor advocate challenging the representative of ACC during a meeting in Christchurch.

 

John Prince was so kind to send me this cartoon. You can see more of his paintings by going to this art website

Open Letter to Nick Smith, Minister for ACC

Please let me share with you a document that we have worked on for the last two weeks and that will be presented today to the Minister for ACC.

If you want to to make your voice count as well, write to your member of parliament.You can find the contact emails here! Or you write to the Dr. Peter Jansen, one of the chief medical advisers for ACC, [email protected]. Tell them how your counselling experience was, how long it took for you, and how it has impacted on your life!

Here is the open letter the NZAP has sent to the Minister for ACC: