Posted on 13 August 2021 By Tegan Carrison, Executive Director, AAPi
AAPi continues to advocate for more appropriate funding of psychologists within DVA and Open Arms.
This week, ABC News online featured a story about a West Australian veteran who had been using Open Arms' services and due to the fee restructure introduced earlier this year, their psychologist was no longer providing services through Open Arms.
AAPi is quoted at length in the story, importantly with our key message that the two-tier rebate is inequitable and will ultimately impact the mental health of our veterans. AAPi has also been interviewed for radio and television on this topic.
It is AAPi's clear stance that psychologists providing the same service to the same client group should not be remunerated differently. We will continue to advocate strongly to make our voice heard in relation to this issue.
In July AAPi was featured online, in printed newspapers, on television and radio.
A standout piece was the ABC online story which reached an audience of more than 640,000 nationally. The story by Meliisa Cunningham served as excellent coverage for AAPi, as it sent out the message loud and clear about the current burden on psychologists and ran in publications in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.
The total audience reach for July coverage was 1.4 million people. AAPi's messages are being seen and heard around the country.