Week Seven

My final week

Wellington

I didn’t have much time in Wellington, it was all a bit of a rush but what I did see was beautiful albeit a bit cold and windy.

I met up with Jennifer Hayward (forensic Doctor) she was very helpful, she met with me to talk about the Sexual Assault Medical Service. This service is like the SARC but they have various clinics. One is set in a sexual health clinic and one is set in the Rape Crisis centre. It seems to work very well.

The service has a 24/7 roster of doctors and nurses on call to provide medical forensic examinations. Non-forensic, medical assessments are also available for those who have been assaulted in the past and want to be checked out for their pace of mind. The services work closely with Hutt Rape counselling Network and Wellington Rape Crisis.

I met with Irene Livingston (support worker) from Hutt Rape Counselling Network. Irene is yet another amazing woman. She has worked for Hutt for over 17 years. Irene won a Queen’s Award for her services to victims of SV, she met with Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and she also won NZ woman of the year .

Hutt provide a service that I haven’t come across before, Irene works closely with police, she gets involved in the investigation. I met with a few Police in Wellington and they all agreed that Irene’s involvement really helps with the investigation. When victims do their video statement, Irene watches through a video link. She has been known to stop the process because she might notice something inappropriate with the way the victim is dressed etc. She also helps victims with their victim impact statements, she says it has much more impact if she does it rather that the police.

Hutt service provide counselling, Medical Forensic care, Support with reporting

They have provided support and counselling to the Hutt Valley and Upper Hutt communities for over 25 years

I met with Rebecca, the manager of the services who talked to me about funding and the difficulties associated with all that.

I met with Dave Sotherton from Wellington Police who is Senior Sergeant in charge of the Sexual assault team.

The fire alarm went off when I was there and we all had to evacuate the building and so we conducted our interview in the police car park. He said the partnership they had with Hutt SV services made all the difference to the way they investigate rape cases and said that he really valued the input from Irene.

I went to the Police Child protection Unit, met up with Karen Humphries ( Adult Interviewer) She also valued the support from Irene.

I went  on to The Sexual Abuse Help Foundation in central Wellington. This was the most difficult place to find, through a shopping centre, up some back stairs.  The manager was out of the country so I met up with Bronwyn ( support worker) . She was very informative and gave me loads of info about the service they provide. She drew me diagrams and maps of the services. They were working very closely with the Church and were finding they were getting many referrals.

Christchurch was a complete washout. The people I was due to meet cancelled and I couldn’t get anyone to agree to see me. I think I had run out of steam and my persuasive powers had failed me.

I was shocked by the devastation in Christchurch. Everywhere you look there are wrecked buildings, it is so sad.

The good thing about Christchurch was that I met up with my son Sam and daughter in law Kim. It was fantastic to see them and spend some time with them. I hadn’t seen Sam for 18 months.

A friend of mine who has done a Winston Churchill Fellowship said to me before I went that, during my travels, I would have light bulb moments….. I’m afraid this didn’t really happen, not until I was with Sam (my Son) and he was barbecuing, we were drinking wine and having a lovely time and I realised that this was in fact the light bulb moment.

  

  

Well I’m off to Melbourne now to spend Christmas with My Daughter Elizabeth and Son in Law Lee.

It’s been a remarkable adventure; I’ve met some wonderful people and witnessed the passion people have for this issue. I have lost count of how many organisations I have visited. Whilst they have all been brilliant in different ways, It has confirmed for me what an amazing organisation Arch is and how incredible the staff and volunteers are. I have really missed my fantastic team and I am looking forward to getting back to work next year with renewed passion.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this blog and thank you for your interest in my travels. I am looking forward to sharing my findings with you all when I get back.

I’m at Christchurch Airport at the moment, about to catch the flight to Melbourne. I’m feeling a little tired and emotional. So I think its best that I log off now.

Happy Christmas and a fantastic New Year to All.

 

Week six

Auckland 

Dilys and Dr Kim McGregor Executive Director of Rape Prevention Education.

I’ve had a very strange time in Auckland, its not really stuff I can put on the blog but I’ll tell you about it when I get home.

I have to admit to feeling a little tired now. I think its all the travelling and intense listening I’m doing. The thought of getting on yet another flight in the morning feels a bit daunting. Especially after my last flight to Auckland where I ended up sitting with a young mum and her two screaming babies. I ended up comforting the poor distressed mum and I had one of the babies on my knee all the way to from Sydney to Auckland. When I got off the plain my clothes were covered in chocolate drink and soggy biscuit. 

I had trouble getting people to agree to see me in Auckland. Rape Crisis (Help Sexual Violence support agency) said they were too busy, but with persistence, I did eventually get Harriet (Development manager) to agree to see me.

Help is the main SV support agency in Auckland, they also provide services across the rest of NZ.

They have 28 full time staff and have they deal with 13,000 calls a year. Harriet wasn’t sure how many individuals they support each year. 

Help have an agreement with police. Police refer all reported rapes to Help. They go with police to all crisis calls, they attend around  500 calls per year.

They also support clients with restrictive justice, Harriet said “it is a great alternative to criminal justice outcomes and really can help to put families back together and help victims with their recovery”. Nearly all agencies I have visited on my travels seem to have great faith in restorative justice.

I was interested in the pre-school programme (Keeping Safe) , Help deliver this programme to 3 to 5 year olds. They say it really works and it has prompted quite a few disclosures.

Helen Clark (ex Prime Minister of NZ) put me in touch with Dr Kim McGregor Executive Director of Rape Prevention Education, a founding and steering group member of Te Ohaakii a Hine- National Network Ending Sexual Violence Together and a member of the Task Force for Action Sexual Violence.

Kim is an inspirational woman who has worked hard to effect change both locally and Nationally across NZ. She has been an amazing advocate and has helped to convince Government to fund SV services, set up a task force and developed a national SV action plan.

In 2003 the case of Louise Nicholas came into the public arena. Louise was subjected to repeated rapes by policemen in a small town in rural NZ.

Those charged were acquitted of twenty charges against them. A public outrage followed which highlighted that there needed to be changes made to the law, which should protect survivors.  Kim supported Louise through her ordeal and beyond.

Louise has become a national figure and is now working with Kim. Together they have lobbied government to make changes. In the last few years a ministerial Task Force has been set up to look into all aspects of sexual violence- prevention education, services for survivors and offenders and legislative reforms.

After lobbying, the SV action plan was developed and the government gave $10.4 million over two years to support SV agencies in crisis.

We could do with someone like Kim to come and lobby our Government.

Kim and I have agreed to stay in touch. She is originally from Stockton, she will be coming over next year and will come and visit our project.

A local community group recommended that I visit the Auckland women’s centre.  Whilst it was a brilliant centre, it wasn’t really a sexual violence centre. They were very welcoming and helpful; they do some amazing work but don’t deal with sexual violence issues. They said if anyone disclosed SV they would refer them to Help.

I had a wonderful feminist conversation with the one of the workers (Ellie Lim) she was fantastic. There seems to be a great feminist movement in Auckland, I have met a lot of strong feminists whilst I have been here.

Apparently there is a strong network of women’s organisations in Auckland that meet up on a monthly basis, they lobby local government and arrange protest action etc.

I’m off to Wellington next. I can’t believe how quickly the time is going.

Week Five Sydney

Well, what an interesting and exciting week I’ve had in Sydney.

I had a very funny taxi ride on my way to meet up with Karen Willis from NSW Rape Crisis. It was a very hot day, I was in a taxi, driving through Sydney, the taxi driver, who was from Singapore,  was singing ‘its beginning to look a lot like Christmas”, I just had to join in and sing along. It was a surreal experience.   

It was a very busy week  but  I did have a free afternoon. As you can see, I used the time to visit the Sydney Opera House and took a boat trip to Manly, it was wonderful.

Sorry

I met up with Jane Wangmann, she is a lawyer and an academic she has worked on the VAW agenda and is now a lecturer of family Law at The University of Technology in Sydney. Jane is involved with Care Leavers Australia Network

(CLAN) This is an organisation set up to support people who have suffered childhood sexual abuse in care. She let me have copies of their newsletter, in which there are amazing and very moving case studies of people who have been through public hearings with the Royal Commission. Jane has been really helpful with finding me contacts in Sydney. She also gave me an insight into the potential problems that the Royal Commission could be facing in the future with how they will support the issue redress.

On the second day I met Pia Van de Zandt… wonderful name and wonderful woman. She is the general manager of engagement and support at The Royal Commission into institutional childhood sexual abuse.

I also met with Patrick and Eric and Eric Hudson who are  counsellors at the Royal commission and Sian who is a communications and support worker.

The Royal Commission Site was very impressive, there was a public hearing in progress which was being televised throughout the building. Whilst I was waiting for Pia I could watch the hearing on the TV in the reception area.

They have 10 counsellors who support people in the short term when they are presenting at hearings.

There is currently a White paper being written on what  redress should look like. The paper will cover three points;

1) how much financial compensation should people get, its looking like they will receive between $80 and $100.each.

2) Which agencies will provide the long term counselling.

3) to engage with the institution to ensure their commitment to change.

The Royal commission has a commitment to treat the people who are coming forward to speak at hearings like guests not clients. It seems to make a difference. The case studies I have looked at all mention how well the victims felt they were treated by the commission. I like this idea.

There was some talk of Arch doing some work with The Royal Commission in the future. I will be talking to Pia on my return to see if we can set it up.

I had the amazing opportunity to sit in on a Public Hearing.

The hearings are very different from a court case. There is a culture of believing what the victims say. They are not put under any pressure and don’t have to go into detail about the event if they don’t want to. They are treated as guests.

The hearing I went to was about an Ashram in Auz where abuse of many children happened in the 60’s through to the 80’s . I heard two victims telling their stories of what had happened to them in that Ashram. I listened to what they said and also to the questions from people representing the Ashram and various other people involved. It was a hearing for the victims, no perpetrators were there. After each victim had finished they received a round of applause. It was amazing to witness. I could see that they felt so happy having done it and the validation they felt was tangible in the room.

I Met up with Gavin Rowen, manager of the DPP  Witness Assistance Service. The service is very similar to the one I visited in Melbourne.  They have 30 social workers across the state . 10 are based in Sydney. They have 2 indigenousness workers and 8 workers who are dispersed over the rest of the state. Each worker has 100 clients each, that shows the level of Support that is provided.

Police provide contact details of victims to WAS and they contact the  victim by letter, they

give them details of the trial, provide them with resources i.e. DVD about what to expect at the trial. They may support the victim at trial but only if she is particularly vulnerable and has no family support or she may be handed over to a volunteer.

There is no formal risk assessment done, its up to the individual case worker to decide what level of service is provided to each client.

I Met up with Karen Willis from NSW Rape Crisis .

The centre provides counselling phone line support. They deal with 50,000 calls per year. They are a national phone line. Karen was very clear to tell me that it wasn’t a help line, it was a counselling line.

The 2009 National Government VAW Plan recommended that a national counselling support line was to be established for victims of family violence and SV. NSW Rape Crisis won the tender ($9million dollars) .  They have 90 Staff, 20 of them are counsellors.

NWS RC provide training to; police, DPP and Health workers. They run programmes in schools and youth groups and collages. Some of the programmes are preventative programmes, aimed at young boys. They also do some great work with corporate companies ,they work with high profile clients ( Football players) delivering a changing behaviour  programme, in groups and one to one sessions.

They also train youth leaders to work with young people using the Sexual ethics education programme for young people.

I came away with loads of inspiration and new ideas and some potential amazing opportunities in Sydney for Arch counsellors.

Tell you all about it when I get back.

ff to Auckland now.