Abuse survivor claims he was ‘misled’ over counselling service reforms

A survivor of child abuse has said he feels “misled” by the Scottish Government over reforms to a lifeline counselling service.

Paul Anderson, from Kirkintilloch, said he was given an assurance by Scottish Government officials and SNP MSP Fiona McLeod that the In Care Survivors Service Scotland (ICSSS) will continue.

However, the Scottish Government is now moving to the new In Care Survivor Support Fund Service, a “brokerage, development and commissioning model”.

Initial contact will be through a “communication support worker” – not a counsellor – who will offer an appointment with “a personal outcome support co-ordinator trained in personal outcomes approaches” to create “a care, treatment and support plan”.

Mr Anderson and fellow survivors fear the new model will simply be a signpost to NHS treatments that have failed them in the past.

He told Holyrood’s Public Petitions Committee that the ICSSS has provided him with friendship and empathy, and said the threat to the service has left him devastated, tearful and suicidal.

The Committee has agreed to write to the Scottish Government for an explanation, as well as ICSSS provider Open Secret, the Scottish Human Rights Commission, Celsis (the Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children in Scotland) and Barnardo’s.

Mr Anderson told the committee that Scottish Government official gave him an “absolute assurance that the funding would continue” last year.

He said: “I have correspondence here from my MSP Fiona McLeod (pictured) and (Scottish Government civil servants) Alexandra Devoy and Heather Brown all saying at that time: ‘Nothing will change, the service will continue.'”

He added: “You arranged those meetings. You asked us to trust you. You asked us to confide in you in things that are very sensitive (and said): ‘Please let us help you.'”

He continued: “When we were told changes were going to happen I had a relapse and I was suicidal twice last year.

“Myself and other survivors feel misled. We were given an assurance that things would not change and then were told something else, take it or leave it.”

He said most survivors “have been rejected by the NHS because they are untreatable” – and questioned the sense of creating a signpost to treatment ” that has already been proven not to work”.

“The NHS have informed me that I will not be given CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) because it won’t work,” he said.

“I have also been informed that I won’t get psychotherapy because I had it before and it failed.

“I was told this after another suicide attempt. If I have another episode I have been basically told by the NHS that I will get one hour’s help and nothing more.

“When I have been in crisis while with ICSSS, all I have had to do is pick up the phone and someone is there.

“I have borderline personality disorder which I have been told is untreatable, and I also have post-traumatic stress disorder.”

He added: “The loss of ICSSS for myself and others is devastating. I have lost count of how many times I have cried about this and how much sleep I have lost.

“I am on more medication now because my heart is in trouble.

“I make this appeal to you for help. The Scottish Government knows that survivors in ICSSS love the service.”

He called for the new broker model and ICSSS to work together.

The Scottish Government’s Survivor Scotland Policy Team told Holyrood researchers that “Open Secret decided not to submit a proposal to deliver the new service, but that transition plans were in place to ensure that survivors currently accessing the ICSSS delivered by Open Secret can continue to receive the support that they need”.

A Holyrood research briefing stated: “They can choose to do this either though using new services or accessing the existing services provided by Open Secret.”

Michael McMahon, convener of the Public Petitions Committee, said: “Paul Anderson and Chris Daly told the Committee that a service they see as a trusted lifeline is at risk.

“We heard that survivors of abuse with understandable issues around trust and authority were not properly consulted before the Scottish Government introduced fundamental changes.

“We will ask the Scottish Government for precise details on its consultation and exactly who was consulted. We will also ask the Scottish Human Rights Commission and a range of support organisations for their views.”

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