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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 3 Hansard (7 March) . . Page.. 801 ..

MR STANHOPE (continuing):

Another example of a client with complex needs is a person whom I will refer to as Karen. Karen immigrated to Australia 40 years ago with her husband. They had three children and they own their home. Karen was subjected to domestic violence and she had grown to accept this as a part of being a woman. Her health deteriorated, of course, and she did not feel well. She went to a doctor and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Her husband began to abuse her more frequently. He saw Karen as being his "shame" and finally he and his children did not want to have anything to do with her.

She was referred to Toora Single Wimmin's Shelter by the local hospital where she had been admitted on a number of occasions. She stayed at Toora for a short period and decided to return to her husband. Karen accessed Toora six times over a period of two years, each time returning home. On her last visit it appeared that her mental health had deteriorated remarkably. Toora supported Karen with housing applications. However, she was unsuccessful in pursuing this. As an older woman with a mental illness, accessing new accommodation with no ongoing support was too frightening. Karen has been as yet unable to leave her family and her violent partner due to the lack of mental health support and the lack of support once she is accommodated on her own. Her situation illustrates the need for a long-term outreach support service for women with mental health issues. Toora has been campaigning for funding to establish such a service to help women such as Karen obtain independent living.

I will, in conclusion, refer to one other case study-I think these are quite revealing-to illustrate to this place the range of problems women within our community face. I refer to a client of Toora whom I will call Stacey. She typifies the experience of younger women accessing Toora-a classic case of a client with complex needs. Stacey is 17 years old. She was referred to Toora from a youth refuge. Stacey left home at 14. Her father had been sexually abusing her for years. She had been living on the streets, temporarily with friends, occasionally squatting and sometimes in youth refuges. She has been using different drugs since she was 11; she started using heroin two years ago; she has often attempted suicide; and she is in trouble with the police.

Toora was the only option for Stacey at this point in time. She had been banned from other services for being violent to other clients, using drugs on the premises, damaging property et cetera. Workers at Toora clarified with Stacey the conditions of her stay, and together the support plan they developed for her involved seeing a GP for a suspected pregnancy and follow-up hep C, counselling sessions with the Rape Crisis Centre, follow-up referral to alcohol and drug counsellors, follow-up referral to legal aid, referral to social workers at Centrelink, accommodation options and other support.

In the following week, Stacey made attempts to deal with some of these issues. One night she returned to the refuge and "dropped" unconscious. An ambulance was called. Stacey had overdosed but was revived. Support was offered to assist her moving into a detoxification program. However, there were no beds available. Two days later she left Toora to stay with friends.

A few weeks later Stacey returned to Toora. She had no money or anywhere else to stay. Again, support was offered to her to assist her to go to detox. (Extension of time granted.) Once a bed was available, Stacey entered and finished the program. She returned to Toora and started going to 12 step support groups daily. Three weeks later

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