Peter Ellis
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ACC Minister Ruth Dyson
today welcomed a $200,000 contract between ACC and the Auckland Sexual Abuse
HELP Foundation for a one-year ‘pilot’ approach to services targeting sexual
abuse. ACC will work with the
foundation to support crisis counselling and telephone support. Outcomes will
be closely monitored. “The ACC contract will contribute towards HELP’s
long-term viability, and its work in addressing the impact of sexual abuse on
communities,” Ruth Dyson said. "ACC worked with
HELP earlier in the year to organise its finances so it could continue to
provide services. This 12-month contract is a tangible contribution towards
this outcome, but the foundation may still require assistance from other
organisations." ACC will track the
foundation’s viability over the next year, to determine whether the pilot
approach can be extended to other community organisations. "Now that HELP has
secured its future for the period of the contract, it must make decisions and
implement changes that determine the way its services are delivered in the ACC has also provided
indirect assistance to the foundation by increasing the level of payments
made to individual counsellors by 36 per cent from 1 April 2004. "ACC’s support for
HELP is in line with the whole-of-government implementation of the Safer
Communities Action Plan To Reduce Community Violence and Sexual Violence,
released in June 2004," Ruth Dyson says. ACC is working with
other crown agencies and community organisations through an inter-agency
steering group to identify gaps in current services. The agencies include the
Ministry of Justice, CYFS, Police, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Te Puni
Kokiri and the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs. |