Private sessions Nohoanga tūmataiti
You can choose to share your experiences face-to-face, or over a video call, with a Commissioner. If you choose to share your experience by video call, you can be in a familiar place where you feel comfortable talking. We will agree a time and date with you and we will send details a week before your session of what you need to do and how the it works.
This page lets you know what to expect from a private session and what you can do to prepare for your session. There is also information about what will happen after your private session.
COVID-19 protocols under traffic light settings
The health and safety of our survivors is our utmost priority.
Under all traffic light settings private sessions will be offered. To ensure we keep everyone at private sessions safe we will have contact tracing, regular cleaning of the venue and ensure that no one attends if they are unwell. We will check in with survivors about their health and wellbeing to ensure there is no risk to them from attending a private session. Remote attendance options are available if you do not want to attend in person.
If you are meeting at our Auckland venue, we do require all attendees to be fully vaccinated and to provide a My Vaccine Pass. Proof of vaccination will not be required by the Commission to attend a private session at other venues, however the venues that we use to hold the session may require you to be fully vaccinated.
All Commission staff will be fully vaccinated when you meet in person from the 1st of February 2022. When arranging the session with you, we will discuss any requirements for the day and be able to answer any questions you may have.
Group sessions
A group of participants can meet with a Commissioner in a face to face setting and share their collective experience, usually after the individual participants have had a private session. Each group session participant must be registered with the Commission. If you would like to discuss a group session, please call our Contact Centre. Groups may include, but are not limited to, whānau, groups of survivors and groups of witnesses. The number of people in the group will be discussed on a case by case basis with consideration given to the wellbeing of the participants.
Meeting your needs
First we will make sure the place, date, and time for your private session suits you. We will then give you an information pack with details about the Royal Commission, what to expect on the day, the private session process, our staff, and the time, date and venue of your private session. We can also help arrange transport.
We will work with you to make sure you feel comfortable and participate fully on the day. For example, setting up the room in a particular way, providing an interpreter, starting the session with a karakia, or if you would like to bring something special with you. Please tell us what your needs and preferences are before your private session so that we have time to make arrangements.
Preparing for your session
Before the day of your session it may help to think about what you want to say. You may also like to write down what you want to share with the Commissioner. It helps Commissioners to understand your story if you can speak about:
- your life before going into care
- your time and experiences in care
- and your life after care including the effects of abuse on your family, whānau and communities
You can send this information to the Commissioner to read before your session or bring it with you on the day. You can also write down things you want the Commissioner to know but do not want to talk about.
Arriving at the venue
You will be met at the entrance to the venue by a private session facilitator. This is a member of staff at the Commission. We will send you a photo of them to help you recognise them on the day. They will show you around the venue and private session room, answer any questions and provide refreshments.
A wellbeing person will be available to speak to if you wish. This is an experienced professional employed by the Commission to offer counselling or mental health support to people who have experienced trauma. You do not have to speak with them, and you do not need to tell them anything about your experiences.
Just before you begin
When you feel ready to talk to the Commissioner they will join you in the room and introduce themselves. The session will begin when the Commissioner asks you to confirm that you agree to take part in the session and turns the audio recorder on. Your session will be recorded so that later on a written record can be made of your session.
You are in control
You can choose how much you want to say about any part of your experiences in your private session.
Sometimes a Commissioner may ask questions to make sure they are clear about what you are saying. However, you do not have to answer or speak about anything you do not want to.
Common questions
Private sessions will be recorded and a written version of your conversation with the Commissioner will be created afterwards. You can ask us to send a copy of this written version after your session.
The inquiry may use your information in a number of ways:
- To inform research that will be the basis of recommendations to help protect children and vulnerable adults from abuse and neglect in the future. For example, if survivors say that certain laws and policies did not protect them then analysing this information will help to show what needs to be changed.
- To create summaries of survivor's experiences, statistical reports, or thematic reports. These may be published in written form or online so that we can tell the public how many survivors have shared their experiences, or to raise awareness of the issues by providing examples of what survivors have told us.
- To identify themes that will be investigated by the Inquiry and discussed in public hearings. For example, if lots of survivors talk about experiences in the same institution then this institution may become a theme to be investigated.
The information from private sessions will be kept secure, and access is strictly limited to Inquiry staff who need it for a specific purpose. Published work from the Inquiry may include anonymised quotes, paragraphs or summaries from what you share with us.
Your personal details will not be published, and we will make sure that no-one is able to identify you from any anonymised published information.
Yes, all information you provide is confidential. All Commissioners and staff have signed strict confidentiality agreements as part of their work. All support people attending a private session will be asked to confirm that they understand everything talked about in the session is confidential.
There are 4 important exceptions to this confidentiality.
- If you agree to give the information from your session to someone else. This includes sharing any notes you made, or if you made your own recording of the session.
- If you tell us about a current and serious risk to the health and safety of yourself or any other person (including a child or vulnerable adult), then the Inquiry will contact an appropriate person. This could include a mental health service or the police.
- If you tell us about serious criminal offending that is ongoing or planned for the future, then the Inquiry will contact the police.
- If a court orders the Inquiry to give them information. If this happened, the Inquiry would only give the information it had to so that the terms of the order were met.
At the end of the Inquiry, all information created by the Inquiry will be transferred to Archives New Zealand and become part of the public record. Information from private sessions will have restricted access. This means that there would be no public access to the information for 100 years.
Yes. In the Inquiry’s view speaking to a Commissioner in a confidential private session does not amount to “publishing” a name in breach of a suppression order.
