In a world first, La Trobe University research has shown how peer-led support programs for family and friends who provide regular support to an adult diagnosed with a mental health condition can significantly improve carer well-being.
Published in MedicalXpress
Pope Francis issued a landmark decree on Thursday making bishops directly accountable for sexual abuse or covering it up, requiring clerics to report any cases to Church superiors and allowing anyone to complain directly to the Vatican if needed.
Tackling sexual abuses that have battered the Catholic Church’s reputation has been a major challenge for Francis since his 2013 election, with victims demanding a crackdown on bishops at the diocese level accused of concealing or mismanaging cases.
Published in Better Blokes
Minister for State Services Chris Hipkins said he would lead the Crown’s response to the inquiry.
Setting out the principles was an important step in rebuilding trust between the government and those abused while in state care, he said.
“This is an incredibly important matter. The government is determined to take action in a transparent, coordinated and timely way to ensure such wide scale abuse over such a long period can never be allowed to happen again.”
Published in Better Blokes
A survivor abused as an altar boy by a Catholic priest in Dunedin is adding his voice to fresh calls for the chairman of the royal commission into historic abuse to resign.
It emerged over the weekend Sir Anand Satyanand – a former governor-general and the chairman of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions set up on February 1, 2018 – had offered to step down after disclosing his Catholic faith.
Sir Anand had written to Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin on September 1 to inform her he was a practising Catholic, involved in the Catholic community and had known Bishops in “church and social settings”.
Published in Otago Daily Times