The Survivor Experiences Service (SES) is a survivor-led organisation that was set up to provide a safe space for people who have suffered abuse in care. The services the SES provides are:
If you have talked to SES about accessing your records or shared your experience with them, you can let them know if you want help with lodging a claim.
Unfortunately, the SES cannot help you to follow up on your claim after they have lodged it.
Find out how to contact the SES.
Another option for getting support or advice is to contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB).
The CAB is an independent community organisation that provides free, confidential, independent information and advice to anyone. Its service is delivered by 2,000 trained volunteers across 80 local CABs across Aotearoa New Zealand.
Some ways in which the CAB could help include:
To contact the CAB:
For people who choose to make a claim, legal advice can also be helpful. Visit our page with information on where you can find legal advice or support.
Making a claim can bring up a range of emotions. We have information with advice and suggestions for taking care of your health and wellbeing.
There are also various support groups, 24/7 helplines, and other free services that you could access.
This webpage talks about abuse.
This information is not meant to scare anyone.
If you are upset after reading this document you can talk to your:
You can also contact Need to Talk by:
It does not cost any money to call / text 1737.
If you do not feel safe call the police on 111.
The Survivor Experiences Service may be able to support you to make a claim.
The Survivor Experiences Service is an organisation:
People who have been through abuse in care are sometimes called survivors.
Abuse can be:
On this webpage being in care means the people in charge of your care were:
or
Faith-based institutions are run by religious groups like churches.
On this webpage the Survivor Experiences Service will be called the SES for short.
The services the SES offer are free / do not cost money to use.
The SES can give you a place to share your experiences that is:
Here confidential means what you talk about is not shared with anyone else.
The SES can support you with your records.
Here records means the information kept / made about a person by an organisation that was part of making decisions about their care.
The SES can support you to:
You can find more information about the SES at this webpage:
www.konae.org.nz/SES
You can ask the SES for support making a claim if you have:
The SES cannot support you to follow up on your claim after it has been made.
To follow up means to check on how something is going.
You can contact the SES by email:
contact@survivorexperiences.govt.nz
You can contact the SES by text at:
8328
You can contact the SES by phone on:
0800 456 090
You can phone the SES:
If you find it hard to use the phone the New Zealand Relay service is for people who are:
You can find out more about the New Zealand Relay service at:
www.nzrelay.co.nz
The Citizens Advice Bureau can give you:
The services the CAB does are:
Here independent means not being connected to any:
The CAB has:
A volunteer is someone who works for free / does not get paid.
The CAB can support you by giving you information about:
Redress means someone:
The CAB can support you to put in a claim.
The CAB can support you to follow up on how your claim is going.
The CAB can support you to understand a decision made about your claim like:
and
You can find the address of your local CAB at this website:
www.cab.org.nz/find-a-cab
This website is not in Easy Read.
You can send a message to your local CAB by:
You can find information about talking to the CAB online at this website:
www.cab.org.nz/contact-us
You can contact the CAB by phone on:
0800 367 222
Legal advice can be helpful for people who choose to make a claim.
Legal advice is when you ask a lawyer:
Information on where you can find legal advice is at this webpage:
www.konae.org.nz/legal-support
This webpage can be read in Easy Read.
Asking for your records can make you feel all sorts of things.
Kōnae has information on taking care of your:
Wellbeing means things like:
You can find this information at this webpage:
www.konae.org.nz/oranga
There are also:
You can this information at this webpage:
www.konae.org.nz/services