Victims seeking apology
ERIN KAVANAGH-HALL
On the case: Petition organisers and Phoenix Group members Anne Helme (left) and Eileen McAtee.
Many of New Zealand's former psychiatric institutions now stand derelict, surrounded by weeds, unnoticed by passers-by.
However, hundreds of former patients say the walls of the old buildings once hid physical violence, sexual abuse and cruel punishments.
More than two decades since the last of the old "bins" closed, a group of Wellingtonians are fighting for those patients whose stories of trauma are a forgotten chapter of New Zealand's history.
Mental health advocacy team the Phoenix Group has launched a petition to have the Government formally acknowledge Te Aiotanga: The Report of the Confidential Forum for Former Inpatients of Psychiatric Institutions, which contains the accounts of almost 500 patients and their families.
The forum was convened in 22 locations throughout New Zealand between 2005 and 2007, and heard testimonies from 493 people affected by their time in the "bins".
Its report was presented to former Labour Health Minister Pete Hodgson, who declined to offer an apology or an acknowledgement of the suffering.
The current petition was initiated by Phoenix Group member Anne Helm, who sat on the panel of the Confidential Forum for two years, listening to the patients' stories.
"[The institutions are] a period in our history that needs to be acknowledged," Ms Helm said.
"The report said that a public apology would make [the patients] feel valued and respected, and bring them closure. The Government has never done that.
"The Government can apologise for the Poll Tax [on Chinese migrants in the early 20th century], and the Ministry of Social Development can run a process for people abused as wards of the state.
"Everyone knows about the Ballantynes fire, but hardly anyone talks about the fire at the Seacliff asylum, which killed 39 people.
"For the people in the institutions, there's been no response.
"We need to tell them this should never have happened. It will make that closure concrete."
With regard to formal acknowledgement of Te Aiotanga, Dr John Crawshaw, director of mental health at the Ministry of Health, said the report had been shared with the appropriate government agencies.
Dr Crawshaw said several historical complaints about abuse in psychiatric facilities before 1992 had been referred to the ministry by the Confidential Listening and Assistance Service.
"These complaints can include a request for compensation or an apology.
"There is an established process in place for addressing and, where appropriate, settling these claims."
The petition, on international social justice website Avaaz.org, has generated 54 signatures and interest from overseas.
Phoenix Group member Eileen McAtee is hopeful that, as well as gaining official recognition, the petition would raise awareness of mental illness in New Zealand.
"Many people don't know about this time . . . When people find out about it, they will be shocked and know it's not OK," Phoenix Group member Eileen McAtee said.
"The things described in Te Aiotanga that those people went through were torture. Also, some of the things described in the report are being brushed off as historical practices.
"People in the mental health system are still being put in seclusion. ECT [electroconvulsive therapy] is still being used without patients' consent. These things are too neatly being put into the past."
Ms Helm and Ms McAtee have both experienced mental illness, and Ms Helm spent time in psychiatric institutions between the ages of 19 and 28.
She underwent deep sleep therapy - in which a patient is rendered unconscious by psychiatric drugs for a period of weeks - at Cherry Farm in Dunedin, and recalls traumatic experiences at Lake Alice in Manawatu.
Because of her past, she said her time on the Confidential Forum panel was "exceptionally difficult".
Human Rights Commission disability commissioner Paul Gibson is supportive of the petition's goals.
He says the commission wants to "slow cook" a national conversation about the institutions by making people in the disability sector and beyond aware of the human rights abuses that took place.
"I am using the notion of saying sorry in public speaking events [for the commission], and comparing it with processes such as South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the 'Stolen Generations' in Australia, and Treaty [of Waitangi] reconciliation in New Zealand," he said.
"The physical, emotional and sexual abuses against disabled people needs national acknowledgement. Everyone in our communities needs to know what happened, acknowledge it and learn from it."
BY THE NUMBERS
16 institutions closed - Carrington, Cherry Farm, Kingseat, Takanui, Ngawhatu, Lake Alice, Kimberley, Seacliff, Queen Mary, Pakley, Sunnyside, Mangere, Templeton and Braemar.
53 institutions has patients who complained about mistreatment
493 people told their stories to the Confidential Forum
60 per cent were women
82 per cent were former in-patients
22 locations visited by the forum
154 days to visit locations
- The Wellingtonian
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