From ABC Australia:
Every spare cent we have goes towards my husband's psychologist appointments. He receives 10 Medicare-rebated sessions with a psychologist per year. After that, we must fully fund his fortnightly visits at $260.
One of the most concerning elements of the redress scheme is the capping of psychological counselling at $5,000: that's not going to provide lifelong access to counselling as the royal commission recommended. In many instances, survivors don't even get their choice of counsellor.
Like most survivors, my husband has significant trust issues resulting from PTSD. He saw three local counsellors before finding one he felt he could work with. Even then it took several months before he was comfortable enough to get anything meaningful out of the sessions.
He should not be forced to attend counselling with somebody else who he may not feel comfortable with, who he must establish trust with from scratch, to access counselling funding through the redress scheme.
Counselling for trauma survivors can't be a "one size fits all" scheme. Not all counsellors are adequately trained in trauma counselling and referring survivors to "Victims Services" may not be right for every survivor. (Read more.)
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