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A researcher who fought for Lake Alice survivors for more than four decades is hoping changes to treatment for mental health patients could prevent future abuse.
Whanganui-raised Victor Boyd, a researcher for the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR NZ), was recently recognised at the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Awards in Auckland.
He has fought tirelessly for recognition of the abuse that Lake Alice survivors suffered in the 1970s, but his work is incomplete.
Boyd is hopeful that changes in the new Mental Health Bill will help to protect future mental health patients from suffering at the hands of medical professionals.
CCHR NZ executive director Michael Ferriss (right) and researcher Victor Boyd at the awards ceremony in March. Photo / Supplied
The early interviews Boyd conducted with children fresh out of the Lake Alice facility would begin a four-decade long battle to hold the institution accountable for their abuse.
He grew up in Whanganui, moving to Auckland in the early 1980s.
In 1977, he joined CCHR NZ as a founding member and researcher, carrying out voluntary work for the group.
“I was 26 at the time, and some of these kids just out of Lake Alice were 16 or 17 - they were young children,” Boyd said.
The Lake Alice Hospital was a rural psychiatric facility in Manawatū-Whanganui where the Government has recognised patients were subjected to torture in the 1970s.
“It was shocking to me that this had happened in New Zealand and only a short car ride from where we lived in Whanganui.”
He said the stories the young teenagers told him were appalling, but as he continued collecting interviews from survivors, they were all consistent in their accounts of mistreatment.
“I listened to and believed their stories when no one else did. Those in authority who should have protected the children and stopped the abuse turned a blind eye despite evidence.
“All those children had their lives badly affected; some had their lives devastated.”
Lake Alice survivors win New Zealand Community of the Year
At a ceremony in Auckland on March 20, the Survivors of Lake Alice and CCHR NZ were awarded the New Zealand Community of the Year Award.
Boyd was mentioned as a key researcher who helped to ensure survivors’ voices were finally heard.
“It was a huge recognition that the justice we’ve been fighting for, for years, is getting somewhere,” he said.
“I am privileged and very proud to have worked with the survivors of Lake Alice for so long.”
The Survivors of Lake Alice and CCHR NZ were awarded the New Zealand Community of the Year Award on March 20. Photo / Supplied
In 2018, CCHR NZ took Lake Alice survivor Paul Zentveld’s case to the United Nations Convention against Torture, and their complaint was upheld.
The moment was a catalyst for the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State Care and additional police investigations being carried out.
Changes in Mental Health Bill could prevent further abuse
The Mental Health Bill is currently before the Health Select Committee with a report due to be made back to Parliament by April 23.
Boyd said it was critical that the right for anyone to refuse medical treatment, as written in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act, was upheld by the new Mental Health Bill.
“We’re pushing for that... it would go a long way to prevent these things happening again.”
Controversial methods of treatment used at Lake Alice such as paraldehyde injections and electric shock therapy were administered to children to punish their behaviour.
Boyd said the treatment happened for childish behaviour such as pillow fights, throwing apples, smoking, or back chatting to nurses.
“Electric shocks or drugs that were used to try to change behaviour, those are really instruments of torture, and there has to be safeguards built around those,” he said.
The new bill would ensure that patients under the age of 18 were not given electroconvulsive therapy unless in the case of an emergency.
Boyd said no child or adolescent under 18 years of age should be allowed to receive electroconvulsive therapy no matter the circumstances.
Boyd believes there should be no forced or compulsory treatment in mental health facilities, which could eliminate the threats and coercion carried out by staff at the Lake Alice facility.
Patients should also be given proper informed consent for any mental health treatment and should be able to get a differential diagnosis, he said.
Independent representation was also important because in the case of Lake Alice there were children who were placed into the facility by Oranga Tamariki.
“The social welfare officer would send the kid to Lake Alice and take no responsibility for what happened, and if they did, they got knocked back by the medical professionals.
“Any child that comes into Oranga Tamariki, the case manager should take more responsibility for what happens in terms of the child’s medical and mental health outcomes.”
He said they were hoping for further legislative change and were lobbying the Royal College of Australian NZ Psychiatrists, Medical Council of NZ and Nursing Council of NZ.
“We are all accountable for the younger generations and future generations,” Boyd said.
Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering health stories and general news. She began as a reporter in 2023.
