Support Groups Inundated by Royal Commission

By Veronica Buck
ABC News
November 22, 2012

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-22/support-agencies-stressed-by-commission/4386666?section=wa

Photo: WA victim support groups say their resources are already over-stretched. (Stateline)

Victim support groups in Western Australia say they've already experienced a spike in demand since the Royal Commission into child sexual abuse was announced and fear their already large workload is only going to intensify.

Dr Philippa White runs Tuart Place, a Fremantle-based centre that helps people who have been abused as children in out of home care such as church run orphanages or juvenile correctional facilities.

"There's been a steep increase in phone calls and inquiries and a lot of talk about it among people who are regular users of the service, it's been a hot topic of conversation," she said.

Once the Royal Commission's terms of reference are announced, Dr White expects to be flooded with new and existing clients asking for support.

"For people who are existing clients of our service, there's about eleven hundred on the books, we hold for many of them Redress applications or Towards Healing statements, so we hold the documentation of their previous complaints," she said.

"If they are wanting to use those complaints as a reference point, or they are wanting us to submit them on their behalf, that would be quite a substantial amount of work."

Dr White also anticipates more counsellors, psychologists and psychiatrists will be needed.

"We had a meeting of about 80 people on Sunday and the feeling amongst that group was that 'this is bringing it all back for me, you know, I thought it was over, why is this happening again now?, I'm right back to square one.'"

"People have flashbacks and other post trauma reactions when they are confronted with information about child abuse, particularly child abuse in care, so it's very re-traumatising for them and they need support with that."

She said many clients are already overwhelmed with emotion as to what the coming Royal Commission might mean to them.

"Some people fear that they will be made to testify, that they'll have to go through it again."

"There's no general understanding of the impact this has on those whose lived experiences included abuse in out of home care."

Dr White says from the look of the consultation paper the Commission is going to draw on previous inquiries so that people don't have to relive their past if they don't want to.

"But a lot of people will want to update that, they'll want to talk about their experience of the redress scheme, they'll want to talk about more recent developments," she said.

"It also has a different focus to previous inquiries given that the focus on this one is on inadequate responses by systems to complaints of abuse, then that sort of puts a different slant on it and will mean a difference in the types of information that's submitted."

Resources stretched

Even without the Royal Commission, Dr White says her organisation has enough demand to operate full time but is only funded for three days and even that funding is not secure.

"It's a bit anxiety provoking, I would like to feel confident the Commonwealth government will adequately fund the necessary support services for the inquiry, so presumably that would include services like this but there's no guarantee of that," she said.

The director of Perth counselling service Centrecare Tony Pietropiccolo agrees.

"I think it's real issue. If we do get an increase in demand then there has to be a consideration for additional resources to cope with that demand, I don't think that the majority of organisations, certainly ours, would be able to absorb a substantial increase," he said.

"We'd certainly try and provide any emergency or immediate support we can to people who are particularly stressed and in need of assistance but in terms of the overall picture we would need more resources in order to cope with any significant increase in demand."

Mr Pietropiccolo says finding qualified staff is vital.

"The issue though is always about salary and about the ability to attract experienced people, this sort of work is not the type of work that anyone can do, it's quite specialised work as you could appreciate and so it would also mean we had people with the competencies to deal with it," he said.

Dr White is now preparing her submission to the Royal Commission.

She is lobbying for a gold card for certain victims of child sexual abuse, which would entitle them to the equivalent of private health insurance.

"This card would be made available to older care leavers, to former child migrants and forgotten Australians, because the series of reports and inquiries and research papers over the last 15 years have all shown that there are significantly worse rates of complex mental health problems, of dental problems and health problems, combined with a group of people who has less access to education, lower employment opportunities and lower rates of income," she said.

"Virtually none of the people that I know in this category have got private health cover and they all need the equivalent of it.'

Despite the obstacles, Dr White is convinced the Royal Commission is a good thing.

"I think it's a positive development because I think it will further raise public awareness, hopefully about the long term impacts of abuse," she said.

"It might have happened fifty years ago but that doesn't mean you can just get over it."