The Second Solicitor: Recovery Deferred, Trauma Repeated - May 2022

By May 2022, I had reached a point where I couldn’t understand why I needed another workers’ compensation lawyer simply to enforce obligations that already existed.

This wasn’t a dispute about complicated legal arguments.

It wasn’t about some novel point of law.

It was about a workers’ compensation insurer complying with statutory obligations that should have been implemented years earlier.

 

• An Injury Management Plan had already been issued.
• A Return to Work Plan should have existed.
• My Nominated Treating Doctor should have been contacted.
• My treating professionals should have been consulted.
• A case manager should have been appointed and maintained.
• Weekly payments should have been paid.

Instead, none of it happened.

The one case manager who appeared to understand her obligations issued the Injury Management Plan and then disappeared from the process. After that, I repeatedly asked who had replaced her. My requests went unanswered. By May 2022, I was still trying to understand how an insurer could simply remove a case manager and leave an injured worker without one.

So I found myself engaging a second workers’ compensation solicitor.

I remember pleading with them from the very beginning.

Please do not make me go through the system again.

Please do not make me repeat everything.

Please do not take me down the same torturous path as the first solicitor.

I’d already spent years documenting what happened. I’d compiled records, evidence, correspondence, legislation, chronology material, and detailed indexes because nobody else seemed willing to undertake a proper review of the whole picture. I even explained that I had prepared a detailed table of contents specifically so I wouldn’t have to keep repeating and reliving the trauma.

But that is exactly what happened.

Again.

I found myself answering the same questions.

Explaining the same facts.

Reliving the same events.

Retelling the same story.

Over and over.

For someone with a psychological injury, this is not an administrative inconvenience.

It is re-traumatisation.

Every retelling requires revisiting the injury. Every explanation requires reopening wounds that never had the opportunity to heal.

The workers’ compensation system talks about recovery, but nobody seemed interested in understanding what repeated exposure to traumatic events does to someone already suffering psychological harm.

What made it even harder was the fragmentation.

Employment law sat in one silo.

Workers’ compensation sat in another.

Industrial matters sat somewhere else.

Regulators sat somewhere else again.

Nobody appeared to have responsibility for the whole picture.

Instead, I felt like a soccer ball being kicked back and forth between systems, agencies, lawyers, insurers and decision-makers.

Everyone looked at a piece of the problem.

Nobody seemed willing to address the entire problem.

The reality is that my goal has never changed.

• I wanted to recover.
• I wanted my entitlements restored.
• I wanted the Injury Management Plan implemented.
• I wanted cooperation between the insurer, employer and treating professionals.
• I wanted to return to my job.

That was it.

In fact, I repeatedly made this clear. I wasn’t asking for extraordinary remedies. 

I was asking for compliance with obligations that already existed.

• I wanted contact with my Nominated Treating Doctor.
• I wanted a Return to Work Plan.
• I wanted implementation of the Injury Management Plan.
• I wanted the opportunity to recover in the role I had performed successfully for almost twenty years.

One aspect of this period troubles me more than almost anything else.

At the time, I couldn’t see it.

• I was too traumatised.
• My nervous system was in a constant state of threat.
• I was trying to save my home.
• I was trying to stop the psychological harm from getting worse.
• I was trying to survive.

Only recently, while conducting a forensic review of my records, did a pattern begin to emerge.

As soon as there appeared to be movement toward involving my treating professionals, the process shifted.

As soon as there was a pathway toward requiring Catholic Church Insurance to communicate with my Nominated Treating Doctor and treating practitioners, another familiar mechanism appeared.

An Independent Medical Examination.

• Another “assessment”.
• Another stranger.
• Another retelling.
• Another “report”.
• Another diversion away from the people who already knew me.

This is what I find impossible to ignore today.

The workers’ compensation scheme is supposed to recognise the central role of the Nominated Treating Doctor.

• The NTD is not a doctor selected for a one-off assessment.
• The NTD is the practitioner chosen by the injured worker.
• The person who understands their history.
• The person who has observed the injury.
• The person responsible for assisting recovery and return to work.

In my case, my GP had known me for decades. He had witnessed the deterioration of my health throughout this entire ordeal. He understood both my medical history and the circumstances that had led to my injury.

Yet when the possibility emerged of reopening the claim and forcing engagement with treating practitioners, Turks Legal immediately re-entered “on behalf of Catholic Church Insurance” and the focus immediately shifted toward another IME - coerced to attend or “payments would be suspended.” They weren’t paying me to begin with! They never did! 

CCI were the ones breaching their own Injury Management Plan agreement! 

See http://mystory-myvoice.blogspot.com/2025/06/injury-management-plan-legally-binding.html

I also can’t help noticing how closely this mirrored what had already happened within the workplace itself.

Rather than addressing psychosocial hazards.

Rather than addressing unsafe workplace conduct.

Rather than addressing allegations of bullying, intimidation, retaliation and ethical misconduct.

The focus repeatedly shifted toward assessment.

Evaluation.

Examination.

Questioning the injured worker.

Producing another report (even a false one when no “assessment” happened - see http://mystory-myvoice.blogspot.com/2025/01/a-doctor-who-commits-fraud-2019.html and http://mystory-myvoice.blogspot.com/2025/08/proof-of-medical-fraud-october-2020.html ).

The people causing harm were rarely scrutinised with the same intensity as the person experiencing it.

That pattern is difficult to ignore.

What is even harder to understand is why the insurer seemed so reluctant to engage with the treating professionals who actually knew me.

Why was there such resistance to meaningful contact with my Nominated Treating Doctor?

Why was there such reluctance to involve the professionals responsible for my ongoing treatment?

Why was another IME considered necessary before the insurer had complied with obligations that had existed since 2020?

Why didn’t Walker Law Group challenge this on my behalf? 

At the time, I didn’t have the capacity to ask those questions.

• I was emotionally exhausted.
• I was frightened.
• I was trying to save my home from the financial consequences of years of non-compliance.
• I was trying to stop further harm.
• I was trying to survive yet another cycle of legal process.

In hindsight, I wonder whether a critical opportunity was missed.

Rather than allowing the process to be redirected toward another medico-legal examination, could the focus have remained on compelling compliance with the Injury Management Plan?

Could the focus have remained on requiring communication with my Nominated Treating Doctor?

Could the focus have remained on enforcing cooperation with treating practitioners and implementing the recovery obligations that already existed?

I am not a lawyer.

That is why I sought legal representation.

Yet today, after reviewing these records years later, I can’t help wondering whether the most important issue was sitting in plain sight all along.

The issue was never a lack of medical information.

The issue was a lack of compliance.

The issue was a lack of engagement with the treating professionals who already knew me.

The issue was the failure to implement the recovery framework that already existed.

And while everyone seemed focused on generating another medico-legal “opinion”, the actual purpose of the workers’ compensation scheme seemed to disappear into the background.

Recovery.

That was always supposed to be the goal.

Yet by May 2022, the process itself had become one of the greatest barriers to mine.

I didn’t need another round of trauma.

I didn’t need another stranger assessing me.

I didn’t need another report.

I needed compliance.

I needed cooperation.

I needed communication with my treating professionals.

I needed the Injury Management Plan implemented.

I needed the insurer to engage with my Nominated Treating Doctor.

And I needed somebody, somewhere, to finally put recovery ahead of process.

Source: contemporaneous record of events - Documents 326-336.

The Parallel Crisis Continued: Trying to Save My Home While Everything Else Fell Apart - April - May 2022

By May 2022, I wasn’t just fighting a workers’ compensation battle. I was fighting to keep a roof over my head while the statutory support that should have protected my recovery remained withheld.

There is a misconception that workplace injury only affects a person’s health.

What often goes unseen is the chain reaction that follows when income disappears, statutory entitlements are withheld, and regulators fail to enforce compliance. The injury itself is only the beginning. The consequences spread into every part of a person’s life.

By April and May 2022, while I was sending notice after notice to my employer, insurer, regulators and elected representatives, another battle was quietly unfolding in the background.

I was trying to save my home. The timing couldn’t have been worse. 

For almost two years I had been attempting to have a legally binding Injury Management Plan implemented. I had repeatedly requested communication between the insurer, my treating doctors and allied health professionals. I had repeatedly sought the return-to-work support and statutory entitlements that should have been available under the workers compensation system.

Instead, I found myself trapped in endless delays, silence, obstruction and regulatory inaction.

At the same time, I was attempting to complete the purchase of a property and preserve what little financial security I had left.

The documents from April and May 2022 tell the story.

I was speaking with mortgage brokers, accountants, solicitors and real estate agents. I was gathering financial records, tax documents, bank statements and rental information. I was trying to secure financing and finalise settlement arrangements. I was doing everything expected of a responsible person trying to honour their commitments. Yet hanging over everything was the uncertainty created by the unresolved workers compensation claim and the ongoing failure of those responsible to comply with their obligations.

In correspondence with a financial adviser, I explained that the Injury Management Plan needed to be implemented and that my employer was required to comply with workers compensation obligations. I explained that I was temporarily surviving on income protection payments while waiting for the workers compensation system to function as intended.

The situation could have been fixed if the insurer complied with the law, if the employer complied with the law, if regulators enforced the law that included my statutory and human right to recover, return to my work in a safe environment, and my legally owed income was finally provided as we moved forward.

In early May 2022, something happened that gave me a brief moment of hope.

A representative from Walker Law Group advised that if my treating doctor completed a Certificate of Capacity, they intended to require the insurer to implement a return-to-work program and suitable duties obligations. Reading those words, I responded with relief.

“I feel like I can breathe.”

That simple sentence captures how desperate the situation had become.

Not because anything had actually been fixed.

Not because my entitlements had been restored.

Not because my employer had finally acted.

But because, after years of fighting alone, someone had finally acknowledged that obligations existed and that compliance should occur. For a brief moment, I thought help might finally be coming.

Yet while I was chasing legal remedies, another clock was ticking.

The property settlement deadline was approaching.

My property solicitor explained the risks in stark terms. Settlement was due by 27 May 2022. Failure to complete could result in penalty interest, a Notice to Complete, forfeiture of the deposit and potentially further legal action. The consequences were severe.

At the same time, I was being forced to prepare another property for sale.

An investment property in Melbourne was scheduled for auction. Marketing campaigns were organised. Inspection schedules were arranged. Auction fees were paid. Property values were adjusted downward in an attempt to secure a sale. Thousands of dollars were spent simply to keep the process moving.

The stark contrast:

On one side of my life, everyone involved in the property transactions understood urgency.

• Deadlines mattered.
• Settlement dates mattered.
• Financial consequences mattered.
• People communicated.
• People responded.
• People explained risks.
• People acted.

On the other side of my life, within the workers compensation statutory “scheme”, urgency and legal obligations disappeared entirely.

• Years had passed.
• An Injury Management Plan remained unimplemented.
• Weekly payments had never been paid.
• Return-to-work statutory obligations remained non-existent.
• Requests for assistance were met with silence, delays, deflection and greater systemic harm.

The difference was extraordinary.

The property system recognised that delaying action had consequences.

The workers compensation system seemed comfortable allowing those consequences to accumulate indefinitely.

By May 2022, I was effectively trying to perform a financial balancing act while standing on a collapsing platform.

Every day that compliance was delayed increased the risk to my financial security.

Every week that passed without appropriate support increased the pressure.

Every month of regulatory inaction brought me closer to outcomes that should never have occurred.

The struggle to save my home was not separate from the workers compensation story. It was one of its consequences.

When statutory entitlements are withheld, when injury management obligations are ignored, when return-to-work processes are not enforced, and when regulators do not intervene, the damage does not remain confined to a claim file.

It enters people’s homes, their finances, their relationships and every decision they make.

The fight to save my home was not a separate battle.

It was the real-world cost of a system that failed to do what it was supposed to do.

Source: contemporaneous record of events - Documents 371-376

The Consequences of Silence - May 2022

10 May 2022

In my story, I’ve written about the kind of trauma that comes from being harmed. But there is another kind that comes from being abandoned.

The second can be harder to understand, because there’s often no single event to point to. No obvious moment where everything changed. Just an accumulation of silences. Unanswered messages. Missing support. People who once spoke freely becoming cautious, distant, or disappearing altogether.

By May 2022, I was no longer simply fighting workers compensation statutory non-compliance by employer and insurer.

I was living inside something that felt like a psychological thriller. I’ve said this before. And that’s what it truly feels like. 

The workplace injury itself had been devastating enough. I had asked for a safe work environment. I had asked for agreed boundaries and for protections that should never have been controversial. Yet somehow, those simple requests had triggered a chain of events that would consume every aspect of my life.

My health deteriorated.

My finances collapsed.

My professional reputation was attacked.

My future became uncertain.

And perhaps most disturbing of all, I found myself increasingly alone.

Looking back through the text messages from that period is heartbreaking.

I can see myself reaching out to colleagues, trying to maintain human connection while everything around me was falling apart. I can see myself explaining what was happening. Trying to make sense of it. Trying to survive it.

At first there were conversations.

Then there were shorter replies.

Then there were long gaps.

Then silence.

I still don’t know what was said behind closed doors.

I don’t know whether people were warned off, intimidated, frightened, instructed, or simply overwhelmed by what they were witnessing.

What I do know is that something happened, because people who had known me for years suddenly became absent at precisely the moment I needed support the most.

That is one of the cruellest aspects of workplace mobbing and social isolation.

The target is left trying to understand what they’ve done wrong when, in reality, they’ve done nothing wrong at all.

What made it even harder was that I was dealing with institutional power.

I was confronting senior leadership and failures within systems that were supposed to protect workers.

I was confronting decisions that had devastating financial consequences.

The result was not merely financial loss.

It was financial annihilation.

Everything I had spent decades building was placed at risk.

Entitlements were withheld.

My home was threatened.

My future became uncertain.

The pressure was relentless.

It felt as though every source of stability in my life was being systematically stripped away.

And yet what traumatises me most, even now, is not the financial damage.

It is what I learned about people.

I had already experienced trauma in my life.

I know what loss looks like.

I know what grief feels like.

I know what it means to survive difficult circumstances.

But nothing prepared me for discovering how many people are capable of witnessing profound harm and simply looking away.

That’s been the hardest lesson.

Not that one person could behave unconscionably.

Not that one institution could fail.

But that so many people could see what was happening and choose silence.

The email I sent to the Sydney Catholic Archdiocese came from that place of despair.

I was writing as a human being who believed serious wrongdoing had occurred and who could no longer understand why nobody with authority seemed willing to intervene.

By then, fear had become a constant companion.

Not ordinary fear.

The kind of fear that develops when every safeguard you believed existed, failed at the same time.

It’s a fear that develops when the systems designed to protect you, instead leave you feeling exposed and isolation becomes “normal”.

My experience of psychological injury taught me something.

Psychological injury isn’t just what happens to a person.

It’s what happens around them.

It’s the silence.

The abandonment.

The exclusion.

The uncertainty.

The sense that reality itself has become distorted.

Years later, I still struggle to comprehend the scale of what occurred.

Not because I cannot understand misconduct, but because I struggle to understand indifference.

The greatest trauma was never discovering that harm could be done.

The greatest trauma was discovering how many people could watch it happen…

… And say nothing.

Source: contemporaneous record of events - Document 321-322.

———

Further Reading: Why Dignity Matters in the Workplace

I have written about psychological injury, organisational misconduct, retaliation, social isolation, financial harm and the devastating consequences that followed after I raised concerns about workplace safety.

At the heart of all of those experiences lies something much more fundamental.

Dignity.

An article published by Emerald Publishing, Why Dignity Matters in the Workplace, explains that healthy workplaces are built on dignity—where people feel recognised, safe, valued and able to raise concerns without fear. It argues that relationships flourish when dignity becomes “the medium of exchange” and that many leaders unintentionally violate dignity simply because they have never been taught to recognise it. (Emerald Publishing)

Reading that article, I found myself reflecting on how profoundly the opposite experience can affect a person’s life.

When a worker loses not only their income, but also their voice…

When they are socially isolated after speaking up…

When colleagues become silent…

When reporting safety concerns leads to fear instead of protection…

When the systems designed to protect workers fail to intervene…

The injury extends far beyond employment.

It becomes an injury to human dignity.

That is why this story has never been just about one workplace or one workers compensation claim.

It’s about what happens when dignity is replaced with fear, silence and exclusion.

If workplaces genuinely want to prevent psychological harm, then psychosocial safety cannot simply be another policy sitting on a shelf. It must be reflected in how people are treated when they raise difficult issues, question unsafe practices or ask for help.

Dignity is not a luxury.

It is one of the foundations of psychologically safe work.

Further reading:

Hicks, D. (2022, 25 January). ‘Why dignity matters in the workplace’. Emerald Publishing. [Online blog]: https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/opinion-and-blog/why-dignity-matters-workplace