Frontline support for victims of sexual violence now under one roof

When the Midlands Sexual Assault Services Fund was launched with Momentum Waikato in 2023, the key message to its potential donors was that victim-survivors of sexual violence should only have to knock on one door, once, to get the help and care they need.

MSASS has always provided a primary point of contact for such support, but now the long-held vision of its Board has been fully physically realised.

In February, they opened their new purpose-designed service centre – a single-entry point to a ‘one-stop shop’, which ensures that victim-survivors of sexual violence don’t have to repeatedly tell their story to get assistance.

Finally united under one roof are medical support for victim-survivors of sexual harm (the Waikato Sexual Assault Assessment and Treatment Service), non-fatal strangulation and suffocation assessment, and MSASS’s own prevention education, social work, counselling and therapy services.

The opening of the new MSASS building saw it shared for the first time with their kaimahi, funders, key stakeholders and collaborators.

Now it is a place of light and hope, of validation, of healing, strength, and recovery.

The MSASS team don’t ‘heal people’. They create the room, and provide the tools, needed for people to heal themselves.

In the words of one victim-survivor: "The space has been held so gently, creating safety which makes space for vulnerable sharing, which brings such healing, as we are seen and validated, feeling heard heals trauma - telling our story".

The new facility has been designed with victim-survivors in mind, as all of MSASS’s completely free and confidential services put them first and foremost in all decision making.

MSASS stall at The Meteor theatre for Prima Facie, a powerful play on sexual assault and the legal system.

The MSASS kaimahi and Board Trustees wish for a different world, where sexual harm is an alien concept that is never experienced and completely unknown, so there is no such thing as a ‘victim survivor’.

Unfortunately, this is not the world as we know it. In the New Zealand our children are growing up in, more than one in five adults will experience sexual harm in their lifetime.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, a time to take action on the troubling statistics.

For Maaori, that number is almost one in three. People with diverse sexualities are more than six times as likely to suffer sexual assault compared to heterosexual people. Adults living with a disability are about 52 percent more likely than non-disabled adults to be sexually assaulted in their lifetime.

For all sexual violence, only about 10 percent of victimisations are reported to Police, and for every 100 victimisations, only three result in a perpetrator being charged, and only ONE results in a conviction.

It is clear - as a country we need to do better.

Listening to the stories people share can be hard at times. Despite this, the MSASS team recognises that doing this mahi is a privilege, very positive and incredibly rewarding.

Feedback from an ACC Sensitive Claims client encapsulates the very essence, value and purpose of MSASS support.

“Thank you so much for understanding and for accepting me as your client. I have no doubt that had I had anybody else, I wouldn't be where I am today. I have absolutely been privileged to have you as my therapist, you have changed my perspectives on therapy and therapist.

“Without you actually understanding me, and taking the time to listen to me, effectively and humbly and empathetically, and giving me a platform to express myself, I don't think I would be as healed as I am.”

MSASS would not be able to do this work without its funding from the Ministry of Social Development, Oranga Tamariki, ACC and MEDSAC, and are grateful for their ongoing support.

Unfortunately, currently not all of the mahi they do is funded. In the Waikato there is no state funding for dedicated crisis counselling for children and young people affected by sexual harm. MSASS’s ACC-funded service only has capacity to assist a small fraction of the tamariki and rangatahi they want to be able to help, and waiting lists for ACC providers nationwide can be long.

Working with child and youth victim-survivors is an incredibly specialised and complex space.

As of upcoming 31 July this year, the funding provided for the long-term recovery of victim-survivors with specialised crisis counselling therapy will be stopped. The caseloads for MSASS staff continue to be full, and they are reluctant to turn people away, as the thought of saying no to people fills all of the team with dismay.

ACC Sensitive Claims services provide a comprehensive, holistic pathway of recovery from harm. However not every case is eligible for ACC services, and not every case needs this long-term rehabilitative process.

It is known anecdotally that local providers do not have the capacity to provide the crisis counselling response that MSASS currently provides.

Donating to the Midlands Sexual Assault Services Fund at Momentum Waikato therefore enables MSASS to continue to do the unique work it does.

Such financial contributions truly make a difference in our community, and will do until that dreamt-of day when such services are no longer needed and MSASS can close its brand new doors, permanently.

Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini.

This is not the strength of one, but the strength of many.

Please donate to the Midlands Sexual Assault Support Services Fund at momentumwaikato.nz/msassfund.