![\"Queensland](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/87ee91bf699bf6c382106f7ee97579537b9d1acb.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nThe company\u2019s sole director, Gino Carrafa, dismissed the concerns of counsellors trying to recoup their debts as he went on multiple lavish Mediterranean holidays over the past three years, allegedly telling them to \u201cf— off\u201d, \u201cget f—ed\u201d and \u201cI know where you live\u201d.<\/p>\n
Carrafa, a registered psychologist, denied the allegations last week, labelling them \u201crubbish\u201d.<\/p>\n
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Queensland social worker and therapist Ursula Adams. Credit: Dan Peled<\/p>\n
\u201cD\u2019Accord does pay its contractors,\u201d he said on Wednesday in response to the latest claims from counsellors.<\/p>\n
Carrafa again accused counsellors of having poor business practices and failing to file invoices properly or on time.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome contractors, for example, have submitted invoices six months after sessions have been conducted, and some companies have not paid on time often two months behind and in one instance $106,000 was owed after four months of waiting going into the fifth month,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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Former D\u2019Accord OAS counsellor Peter Hope said he spent a year trying to recoup debts from the company after being a first responder to sudden deaths, suicides and industrial accidents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey just try and get people to shut up and disappear,\u201d said Hope. \u201cIt gave me the shits to finish my professional career in that way after 40 years of work in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve written off the money, but he owes me respect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Myer, one of D\u2019Accord OAS\u2019 top clients, has launched an investigation into the claims against the company, which it used to counsel staff after the Bondi Junction stabbing. The department store giant declined to comment.<\/p>\n
The Victorian government\u2019s Transport Accident Commission has also distanced itself from D\u2019Accord OAS. The commission used D\u2019Accord OAS as a subcontractor under an agreement with Corporate Health Management to run employee assistance services. In June, a D\u2019Accord OAS subcontractor alerted the commission to outstanding invoices.<\/p>\n
Corporate Health Management chief executive Michael Lotherington said its contract with D\u2019Accord OAS ended last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmployee and contractor welfare is fundamental to our business,\u201d said Lotherington. \u201cWe know that when they are looked after properly, that translates directly into better care for the clients and their employees.\u201d<\/p>\n
But dozens of counsellors say they are still owed thousands of dollars for work they did for major companies, including Bendigo Bank, on behalf of D\u2019Accord OAS. Bendigo Bank declined to comment.<\/p>\n
One counsellor, who asked to remain anonymous to protect her future work, said she was repeatedly let down by D\u2019Accord OAS, which would pledge to look into the payments and then go silent, forcing her to choose between caring for vulnerable clients and working free.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I\u2019d already engaged these clients \u2013 three of them were in family violence situations \u2013 I did not feel like I could just drop them,\u201d she said. \u201cThat somebody could do this \u2013 it just cuts across so many of my values\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mental health worker Meg, who asked only to be identified by her first name, said D\u2019Accord OAS\u2019 actions were anathema to the services it was providing. \u201cIt\u2019s a blight on the profession,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The company\u2019s sole director, Gino Carrafa, dismissed the concerns of counsellors trying to recoup their debts as he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49,48,84,393,394],"class_list":{"0":"post-145200","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}