Psychological counselling for rape victims

Rape victims will soon be offered psychological counselling, health minister Kaj Leo Holm Johannesen confirmed this morning.

It was always the plan to include this service for patients at the National Hospital’s rape crisis centre, but there have been delays regarding psychological counselling, he said.

“We have now allocated funding for this, and we will implement psychological counselling within days.”

Premature opening of clinic

The decision has been speeded up in the wake of recent criticism from a woman who said she felt she was treated like a guinea pig at the clinic after suffering an attempted rape.

The National Hospital management acknowledged its shortcomings and promised immediate improvements.

Gynaecologist Diana Reynstind, who is part of the team that set up the rape crisis centre, told KvF on Saturday that there was not enough time to complete all the preparatory work ahead of the clinic’s scheduled opening date.

A key missing component was an offer of psychological counselling to anyone visiting the clinic.

Read the Faroese version of this article here.

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