Canberra's main support service for sexual assault victim-survivors is facing scrutiny following an exodus of former employees who have aired allegations of a patient data lockout, a shift away from frontline care, and a toxic workplace culture.
The Canberra Rape Crisis Centre (CRCC), established in 1976, is a private charity organisation that relies heavily on public money and has recently secured about $10 million in ACT government funding for the next four years.
More than five former staff have spoken to The Canberra Times on the condition of anonymity.
Tiffany Karlsson, who is returning to a federal public service role following a two-year secondment as CRCC's chief executive, has firmly rejected the claims and defended structural changes as part of a multi-year improvement program guided by an independent review.
In a written statement, the chief executive described the allegations by former staff as "invidious", "without foundation", and said they undermined the organisation.
Chair of the CRCC board, Margaret McKinnon, said the organisation had made difficult decisions while driving an ambitious program of change in response to the ACT government's 2024 review of domestic, family and sexual violence crisis specialist services.
"Over the past two years, we have been implementing the review's recommendations to deliver positive change across CRCC and improved services to the community.," the board chair said.
"We have made the difficult and necessary operational decisions required to ensure CRCC remains sustainable, accountable and continues to deliver for the ACT community.
"This has included improving access to specialist support for victim-survivors; investing in counsellors so they can support our clients; upgrading IT to help do our jobs better and building strong relationships with community organisations, governments, and the private sector."
Ms McKinnon said CRCC board and staff were proud of the organisation's 50-year history supporting victim-survivors.
A central allegation involves an IT transition to a new service provider that former staff claim locked them out of sensitive client records for at least six months between mid-2025 and early 2026.
It is alleged staff operated "in the dark" without access to trauma histories, child protection needs, or suicide risk assessments, posing grave clinical risks.
"Clinical workers and counsellors had to work without any information about their clients," a former staff member claimed.
According to another source, fulfilling urgent court subpoenas allegedly became a convoluted process that required days of searching for client documents.
In response, Ms Karlsson said allegations of a data lockout were inaccurate and that CRCC went through a regular IT transition between September and October 2025 when client files were "securely held in a technology-based vault".
She said temporary arrangements allowed staff to access client records and the organisation met its legislative timeframes for legal requests.
Sources alleged CRCC adopted a top-heavy corporate structure in the past year and that the quality of clinical support had dropped.
Former staff claimed experienced frontline clinicians were pushed out and replaced by part-time workers or early-career graduates, while new executive roles, including a chief operating officer, a general manager, and a dedicated communications and public relations department were created.
Staff alleged the new non-clinical roles were filled by Ms Karlsson's former federal public service colleagues.
Ms Karlsson rejected claims of nepotism and said: "It is not correct that positions have largely been filled by former colleagues."
Ms Karlsson added clinical staff had tertiary qualifications in social work, counselling, or psychology and demonstrated an appropriate level of expertise in trauma counselling.
She said the ACT government's recent capacity expansion funding enabled the recruitment of 11 new staff, including four counsellors, four crisis advocates, alongside communications and corporate officers.
Ms Karlsson added CRCC's non-clinical footprint remained "modest," and as of June 2026, 57 per cent of staff worked full-time roles, 24 per cent were engaged part-time, and 19 per cent had casual roles.
The clinical impact of structural shifts is contested as departing staff further alleged CRCC got rid of therapy dogs and abandoned its long-term therapy model in favour of capped, short-term care causing a waitlist of roughly 40 to 50 people to drop to zero at one stage.
In response, Ms Karlsson said CRCC has never capped counselling sessions and that its waitlist "changes daily", but refused to provide specific figures stating it "could compromise client confidentiality" and discourage people seeking support.
Former staff further alleged CRCC had become a psychologically unsafe workplace.
One person said they were instructed to keep a record of staff accessing the office to find "loopholes" to revoke flexible, work-from-home arrangements for working mothers.
"Most of our experiences feel like trauma experiences themselves," the former staff member said, referring to employees who have left the organisation in the past year.
Ms Karlsson said CRCC did not accept the characterisation of its workplace culture reflected in this claim and that flexible working arrangements were managed on a case-by-case basis prioritising client needs.
"CRCC provides frontline services to some of the most vulnerable members of our community. Clinical staff are client-facing and work from the CRCC office to enable that support," the chief executive said.
Ms Karlsson said CRCC had a "zero-tolerance approach" to bullying and harassment and staff had access to multiple reporting and escalation pathways.
Former staff claimed during recent renovations the CRCC office was "literally whitewashed," multicultural signage and First Nations artwork was removed, and a framed copy of the National Apology was found near the bins.
Ms Karlsson told this masthead this claim was inaccurate, that no multilingual signage was removed and National Apology picture frames were removed and safely stored during repainting.
"Once the paint dried, they were rehung and are on display in CRCC's waiting rooms and in the Nguru culturally sensitive space," she said.
Additional allegations involved the closure of the long-running First Nations victim-survivor support program, Nguru, claiming CRCC could have chosen to redirect funding to keep the service.
Ms Karlsson said CRCC's Nguru program lost its funding because the ACT government explicitly reallocated that money to Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) to support self-determination, and CRCC was unsuccessful in its budget submission to secure dedicated funds for it.
The chief executive said she had "no discretion" to use newly announced government funding for a replacement program.
When asked how the fresh funding would be used, Ms Karlsson said it saved the organisation from a potential 60 per cent budget cut and would allow the organisation to maintain its existing services.
Ms Karlsson said the funds would guarantee the continuation of its free Service Assisting Male Survivors of Sexual Assault (SAMSA), and extend their Independent Sexual Violence Advisors program for victim-survivors navigating the justice system for another three years.
She also said the funding would be used to develop new initiatives, including a program focused on education addressing problematic and harmful sexualised behaviours.
