Latest news with #counsellors
RNZ News
6 days ago
- Health
- RNZ News
Government removes barrier in bid to increase counsellors in public mental health workforce
Previously, counsellors were excluded from publicly funded roles due to a lack of formal regulation. Photo: 123rf A barrier preventing hundreds of counsellors from working in publicly funded mental health services has been removed. Health New Zealand, in partnership with the New Zealand Association of Counsellors (NZAC), has finalised a strengthened accreditation pathway. Previously, counsellors were excluded from publicly funded roles due to a lack of formal regulation. Health NZ, alongside the largest counselling membership and accredited professional body, NZAC, worked on one recognised and robust accreditation pathway. Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey said it is a "common-sense step" that unlocks existing workforce capacity at a time of high demand. "I've been clear from day one, workforce shortages are one of the key barriers to delivering timely mental health support for New Zealanders in their time of need," Doocey said. "This is a practical and common-sense decision that ensures we're making full use of the experienced counsellors already working in our communities." He said there are more than 330 counsellors now eligible through this expanded pathway and the move is expected to bolster primary mental health workforce initiatives. "We are starting to turn the corner with reducing wait times and increasing the workforce. We have more mental health nurses, psychologists, support workers and addiction counsellors working on the ground, and overall vacancy rates are starting to ease," Doocey said. "While many challenges remain, this is yet another step this Government is taking to turn the corner on the longstanding mental health workforce vacancies. "When someone is making the brave step of reaching out to get support, workforce should never be a barrier." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
News24
22-07-2025
- Business
- News24
LottoStar sets a new standard in responsible betting
In a groundbreaking move for the betting industry, LottoStar has become the first betting company in South Africa to offer independent professional counselling services to its players. This sets a new benchmark for responsible betting. This initiative not only raises the standard for ethical betting, it also reflects LottoStar's commitment to putting players' wellbeing at the forefront of its operations. By integrating qualified counsellors into its support ecosystem, LottoStar is ensuring that help is accessible and stigma-free. In an industry often defined by thrills and risk, LottoStar is redefining what it means to bet responsibly, placing mental health, emotional wellbeing and ethical betting practices at the core of its brand. This milestone initiative sets LottoStar as an innovator in the online betting industry. 'Responsible betting has never just been a box to tick for us. It's a commitment. A promise to our players that we care just as much about their wellbeing as we do about the games they love,' says a LottoStar spokesperson. A first in South Africa While many platforms offer basic self-exclusion tools or refer players to third-party helplines, LottoStar has taken the step of integrating in-house, professionally qualified counsellors into its platform. These counsellors are available to provide free, confidential support to players who may be experiencing betting-related stress, addiction tendencies or emotional strain. This service is: Free and accessible to all registered players. Confidential. Operated by qualified professionals trained in betting addiction. Players can take a quick and confidential Self-Assessment Quiz and check in with themselves to assess their betting habits. LottoStar has also introduced the Cooling-Off Period and Self-Exclusion programmes, where players can temporarily deactivate their accounts, giving them space to regain control of their habits. From detailed responsible betting guides and self-assessment tools to real-time support, LottoStar is equipping players not just to bet, but to bet smart and safely. With this initiative, LottoStar hopes to ignite a shift in the South African betting industry, one that empowers every player to enjoy betting in a mindful, informed way. 'Our goal is to create a safer, more supportive betting environment — not just for today, but for the future of this industry,' the spokesperson adds. About LottoStar LottoStar is a proudly South African online betting platform offering a range of games, including Scratchcards Games, Slot Games, and more, offering payouts of up to R75 Million. LottoStar is committed to transforming the betting experience – one responsible bet at a time. LottoStar is licensed by the Mpumalanga Economic Regulator. No under 18. National Responsible Gambling Programme 0800 006 008. Ts & Cs apply. All games are fixed-odds betting events.
The Guardian
09-07-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Texas's Camp Mystic was ‘a place of joy'. Floods turned it into a site of great loss
The loss of 27 campers and counsellors from Camp Mystic to the Texas Hill Country flood may serve, at a terrible cost, to expand its considerable reputation across Texas and beyond. Even as the floods claimed more lives along the valley – more than 100 confirmed dead and 160 people unaccounted for as of Tuesday – the loss of several 'Mystic Girls' has dominated the headlines. The camp, which offers two four-week terms and one two-week term over the summer, has been the go-to summer camp for daughters of Texans for nearly a century. It's so popular that fathers have been known to call the registrar to get their daughters on the list from the delivery room. The camp, which spans more than 700 acres, has been widely described as an all-girls Christian camp, lending an image of baptisms in the river, but the religious component may be overstated: the camp is known as one of dozens along the Guadalupe River that Texan families send their young to escape the brutal heat of the lowlands. Now at least one-half of Camp Mystic, which was due to celebrate its centenary next year, lies in ruins, torn apart by raging floodwaters. The sound of song and girls playing has been replaced by the sound of chainsaws and heavy equipment as 19 state agencies and thousands of volunteers work to search and clear mounds of flood debris along the river, including the muddied personal items of the campers. Five days after the flood, the task along the valley has become a search-and-recovery operation: no one has been rescued from the river alive since Friday. In addition to the lost girls, Camp Mystic's director, Richard 'Dick' Eastland, a fourth-generation owner of the camp, died while attempting to bring five girls to safety. 'It tugs at the heart of anyone in the world that see the pictures of those little faces,' said Claudia Sullivan, author of a book on the Camp Mystic experience, Heartfelt: A Memoir of Camp Mystic Inspirations. 'To know that they were there, having the time of their life, that they were innocent, and then to be taken away in such a tragic event – it takes you to your knees.' Most alumni contacted by the Guardian indicated they were too upset to discuss the camp, or its reputation, as Texas Monthly put it in a 2011 article, for serving 'as a near-flawless training ground for archetypal Texas women'. It has served generations of Texas women, often from well-to-do or politically connected Texas families, including the former first lady Laura Bush, who was a counsellor, and the daughters and granddaughters of Lyndon Johnson, former secretary of state James Baker, and Texas governors Price Daniel, Dan Moody and John Connally. The camp may have been incorrectly characterized as a 'Christian' camp. 'That evokes the idea of church camp but that's not the case,' said Sullivan. 'It's a private camp for girls that holds Christian values. When I was there we spent a lot of time talking about being kind to one another and having compassion, and there were people from other denominations and faiths.' Camp Mystic is better understood, Sullivan added, as being in a place free from pressure. 'You're in nature, in a beautiful setting, and really removed from the world', said Sullivan. 'It's a place of joy and innocence – or was. My sense is that it will definitely be rebuilt, but it's awfully early.' The outpouring of grief and rush to support the community have been striking. A church memorial service was held on Monday in San Antonio for the 'Mystic girls' who had been lost. Many dressed in the camp's green and white, together in song and prayer. It was not possible to get to the camp on Tuesday, a tailback of 2.5 hours extended across the seven miles from Hunt, the nearest hamlet, to Camp Mystic. At the season's peak in July and August, the camp hosted 750 girls aged between seven and 17 years old – that's more than half of Hunt's population of around 1,300. At Ingram, a riverbank town that also lost dozens from RV camps and homes to the flood, emergency workers and volunteers were pitching in, in many cases in the hope of recovering people still lost, and many bodies likely hidden under large piles of river debris, shattered homes and mangled possessions. John Sheffield, owner of Ingram's Ole Ingram Grocery, said the flood had not recognized social differences and nor would the recovery effort: 'This is Americans taking care of Americans. There's been such a tremendous outpouring of support and compassion.' Down by the river, search crews were continuing to comb through debris and mud. Claud Johnson, the mayor of Ingram, was operating a digger up by Hunt. An EMS van pulled up, suggesting another body had been found. Helicopters continued to move overhead despite an incident on Monday when one was struck by a privately operated drone and was forced to make an emergency landing. Three baristas from the Aftersome Coffee stand in San Antonio had come up to serve recovery workers. Allyson Bebleu said she had gone to church camp and it had given her some of her fondest memories. 'It's not just for the wealthiest families, people of all types go to camp,' she said. 'Everyone is putting themselves in the shoes of the Camp Mystic girls. It's tragic.' Camp Mystic was also the subject of a controversial video recently posed by Sade Perkins, a former member of Houston's Food Insecurity Board. Perkins was 'permanently removed' by John Whitmire, the Houston mayor, after she called Camp Mystic a 'whites only' conservative Christian camp without even 'a token Asian, they don't have a token Black person'. Richard Vela, whose 13-year-old daughter Maya was evacuated from a nearby camp, Camp Honey Creek, on Friday and was still too upset to discuss it, said Perkins' comments 'were not right. You don't talk about people like that. There's a lot of death going on and they still haven't found everybody.' Bruce Jerome, who was manning an outreach for flood survivors in Ingram, said he had known Jane Ragsdale, the director and longtime co-owner of Heart O' the Hills Camp, in Hunt, Texas, who had died in the flooding. 'She was just genuinely wonderful,' Jerome said. Further down the track to the river was Josey Garcia, a Democratic representative for San Antonio in the Texas state house. She and her team were also picking through the debris, pointing out vast piles that still need to be be sifted through. Garcia, a military veteran, said it was important to come 'and collaborate with our neighbors here to recover those that are missing and help Kerr county clean up. We've had folks coming from Laredo and outstate Kansas to lend assistance. It's showing the spirit of Texas – when it comes to lives being devastated its our duty to step.' Garcia, too, rejected negative characterizations of Camp Mystic. 'I've been hearing a lot of the rhetoric that's been going around. This is not the time for those types of distinctions. I don't care who was at the camp. All I know is that there are parents and families that are missing their loved ones. Whether it's rich Caucasian children or any other children, we'd still be there.'
The Guardian
09-07-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Texas's Camp Mystic was ‘a place of joy'. Floods turned it into a site of great loss
The loss of 27 campers and counsellors from Camp Mystic to the Texas Hill Country flood may serve, at a terrible cost, to expand its considerable reputation across Texas and beyond. Even as the floods claimed more lives along the valley – more than 100 confirmed dead and 160 people unaccounted for as of Tuesday – the loss of several 'Mystic Girls' has dominated the headlines. The camp, which offers two four-week terms and one two-week term over the summer, has been the go-to summer camp for daughters of Texans for nearly a century. It's so popular that fathers have been known to call the registrar to get their daughters on the list from the delivery room. The camp, which spans more than 700 acres, has been widely described as an all-girls Christian camp, lending an image of Baptisms in the river, but the religious component may be overstated: the camp is known as one of dozens along the Guadalupe River that Texan families send their young to escape the brutal heat of the lowlands. Now at least one half of Camp Mystic, which was due to celebrate its centenary next year, lies in ruins, torn apart by raging floodwaters. The sound of song and girls playing has been replaced by the sound of chainsaws and heavy equipment as 19 state agencies and thousands of volunteers work to search and clear mounds of flood debris along the river, including the muddied personal items of the campers. Five days after the flood, the task along the valley has become a search-and-recovery: no one has been rescued from the river alive since Friday. In addition to the lost girls, Camp Mystic's director Richard 'Dick' Eastland, a fourth-generation owner of the camp, died while attempting to bring five girls to safety. 'It tugs at the heart of anyone in the world that see the pictures of those little faces,' says Claudia Sullivan, author of a book on the Camp Mystic experience, Heartfelt: A Memoir of Camp Mystic Inspirations. 'To know that they were there, having the time of their life, that they were innocent, and then to be taken away in such a tragic event – it takes you to your knees.' Most alumni contacted by the Guardian indicated they were too upset to discuss the camp, or its reputation, as Texas Monthly put it in a 2011 article, for serving 'as a near-flawless training ground for archetypal Texas women'. It has served generations of Texas women, often from well-to-do or politically connected Texas families, including the former first lady Laura Bush, who was a counsellor, and the daughters and granddaughters of Texas governors Price Daniel, Dan Moody and John Connally, President Lyndon Johnson, former secretary of state James Baker. The camp may have been incorrectly characterized as a 'Christian' camp. 'That evokes the idea of church camp but that's not the case,' says Sullivan. 'It's a private camp for girls that holds Christian values. When I was there we spent a lot of time talking about being kind to one another and having compassion and there were people from other denominations and faiths.' Camp Mystic is better understood, Sullivan added, as being in a place free from pressure. 'You're in nature, in a beautiful setting, and really removed from the world', says Sullivan. 'It's a place of joy and innocence – or was. My sense is that it will definitely be rebuilt, but it's awfully early..' The outpouring of grief, and rush to support the community has been striking. A church memorial was held on Monday in San Antonio for the 'mystic girls' who had been lost. Many dressed in the camp's green and white, together in song and prayer. It was not possible to get to the camp on Tuesday, a tailback of 2.5 hours extended across the 7 miles from Hunt, the nearest hamlet, to Camp Mystic. At the season's peak in July and August, the camp hosted 750 girls aged between seven and 17 years old – that's more than half of Hunt's population of around 1,300. At Ingram, a riverbank town that also lost dozens from RV camps and homes to the flood, emergency workers and volunteers were pitching in, in many cases in the hope of recovering people still lost, and many likely hidden under large piles of river debris, shattered homes and mangled possessions. John Sheffield, owner of Ingram's Ole Ingram Grocery, said the flood had not recognized social differences and nor would the recovery effort: 'This is Americans taking care of Americans. There's been such a tremendous outpouring of support and compassion.' Down by the river, search crews were continuing to comb through debris and mud. Claud Johnson, the mayor of Ingram, was operating a digger up by Hunt. An EMS van pulled up, suggesting another person had been found. Helicopters continued to move overhead despite an incident on Monday when one was struck by a privately operated drone and was forced to make an emergency landing. Three baristas from AfterSome Coffee stand in San Antonio had come up to serve recovery workers. Allyson Bebleu said she had gone to church camp and it had given her some of her fondest memories. 'It's not just for the wealthiest families, people of all types go to camp,' she said. 'Everyone is putting themselves in the shoes of the Camp Mystic girls. It's tragic.' Camp Mystic was also the subject of a controversial video recently posed by Sade Perkins, a former member of Houston's Food Insecurity Board. Perkins was 'permanently removed' by John Whitmire, the Houston mayor, after she called Camp Mystic a 'whites only' conservative Christian camp without even 'a token Asian, they don't have a token Black person'. Richard Vela, whose 13-year-old daughter Maya was evacuated from a nearby camp, Camp Honey Creek, on Friday and is still too upset to discuss it, said Perkins' comments 'were not right. You don't talk about people like that. There's a lot of death going on and they still haven't found everybody.' Bruce Jerome, who was manning an outreach for flood survivors in Ingram, said he had known Jane Ragsdale, the director and longtime co-owner of Heart O' the Hills Camp, in Hunt, Texas, who had died in the flooding. 'She was just genuinely wonderful,' Jerome said. Further down the track to the river was Josey Garcia, a Democratic representative for San Antonio in the Texas state house. She and her team were also picking through the debris, pointing out vast piles that still need to be be sifted. Garcia, a military veteran, said it was important to come 'and collaborate with our neighbors here to recover those that are missing and help Kerr county clean up. We've had folks coming from Laredo and outstate Kansas to lend assistance. It's showing the spirit of Texas – when it comes to lives being devastated its our duty to step.' Garcia, too, rejected negative characterizations of Camp Mystic. 'I've been hearing a lot of the rhetoric that's been going around. This is not the time for those types of distinctions. I don't care who was at the camp. All I know is that there are parents and families that are missing their loved ones. Whether its rich Caucasian children or any other children, we'd still be there.'
BreakingNews.ie
07-07-2025
- Climate
- BreakingNews.ie
Girls camp grieves loss of 27 children and staff in Texas floods
Crews picked through mountains of debris and waded into swollen rivers in the search for victims of catastrophic flooding that killed nearly 90 people over the July Fourth weekend in Texas, including more than two dozen campers and counsellors from an all-girls Christian camp. With additional rain on the way, more flooding still threatened in saturated parts of the US state. Advertisement Authorities said the death toll was sure to rise as crews looked for many people who were missing. Officials ride a boat as they arrive to assist with a recovery effort at Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas (Julio Cortez/AP) Operators of Camp Mystic, a century-old summer camp in the Texas Hill Country, said they lost 27 campers and counsellors, confirming their worst fears after a wall of water slammed into cabins built along the edge of the Guadalupe River. 'We have been in communication with local and state authorities who are tirelessly deploying extensive resources to search for our missing girls,' the camp said in a statement. Authorities later said that 10 girls and a counsellor from the camp remain missing. Advertisement The raging flash floods — among the nation's worst in decades — slammed into riverside camps and homes before daybreak on Friday, pulling sleeping people out of their cabins, tents and trailers and dragging them for miles past floating tree trunks and automobiles. Some survivors were found clinging to trees. Piles of twisted trees sprinkled with mattresses, fridges, coolers and canoes now litter the riverbanks. Search-and-rescue teams used heavy equipment near Kerrville to remove large branches while volunteers covered in mud sorted through chunks of debris, piece by piece. Advertisement In the Hill Country area, home to Camp Mystic and several other summer camps, searchers have found the bodies of 75 people, including 27 children, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said. Fourteen other deaths were reported in Travis, Burnet, Kendall, Tom Green and Williamson counties, according to local officials. Governor Greg Abbott said on Sunday that 41 people were unaccounted for across the state and more could be missing. Authorities vowed that one of the next steps will be investigating whether enough warnings were issued and why some camps did not evacuate or move to higher ground in areas long vulnerable to flooding. Advertisement – Warnings came before the disaster On Thursday the National Weather Service advised of potential flooding and then sent out a series of flash flood warnings in the early hours of Friday before issuing flash flood emergencies — a rare step that alerts the public to imminent danger. First responders carry out search and rescue operations near the Guadalupe River in Texas (Eli Hartman/AP) Authorities and elected officials have said they did not expect such an intense downpour, the equivalent of months of rain. Kerrville city manager Dalton Rice said one of the challenges is that many camps are in places with poor mobile phone service. US President Donald Trump signed a major disaster declaration on Sunday for Kerr County and said he would likely visit on Friday. Advertisement He said it was not the time to talk about whether he was still planning to phase out the Federal Emergency Management Agency and added that he does not plan to rehire any of the federal meteorologists who were fired this year as part of widespread government spending cuts. 'This was a thing that happened in seconds. Nobody expected it,' the president said. Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, said recent cuts to Fema and the National Weather Service did not delay any warnings. 'There's a time to have political fights, there's a time to disagree. This is not that time,' Mr Cruz said. There will be a time to find out what could been done differently. My hope is in time we learn some lessons to implement the next time there is a flood.'
