102 S McKinnon, C Eriksen, and E de Vet
region to the south, where Kangaroo Valley is nestled into the foot of the
same mountain range. On 4 January 2020, the Currowan fire, which had
burnt across 320,845 ha in the previous 74 days, tore through the western
side of Kangaroo Valley. In mid-2020, 14 interviews were conducted with
19 Kangaroo Valley residents (including five couples).
Across the case study sites, participants’ homes were located on a range of
property types, including farms, holiday accommodation businesses, and
blocks of varying sizes in rural, suburban, and peri-urban areas. Experiences
of the fires also varied. Some participants stayed and defended their homes
through the fires, often in terrifying circumstances. Others evacuated before
the fires and returned home in subsequent days to find scorched landscapes
and, in several cases, destroyed homes. All participants had some form of
insurance policy or policies, be it home, contents, and/or farm insurance.
In both case studies, interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim.
Using the QSR NVivo v.11 qualitative data analysis software, transcripts
were coded and thematically analysed. The names of participants included
in this chapter are all pseudonyms.
Insurance and wellbeing
Insurance affected the wellbeing of participants in multiple and complex
ways, which were often disconnected from the monetary value of a payout.
An important contributing factor was how much value insurers were perceived to place on the mental health and emotional wellbeing of their clients
(Eriksen & de Vet 2020). In other words, did insurance assessors appear to
act purely as an extension of a financial mechanism, or did they actively
and visibly support the emotional needs of potentially traumatised individuals? David and Neal (Kangaroo Valley (KV), 50s), for example, lost their
home and a holiday rental in the Currowan fire. They were appreciative
of the speed with which their claim was processed by their insurer, which
had allowed them to begin plans for rebuilding relatively quickly. Also of
significance in their assessment of the value of insurance, was the empathy
and consideration of the insurance assessors who worked with them. David
praised ‘the one-on-one genuine compassion that was shown,’ while Neal
stated, ‘To get hugs from assessors who are concerned about your welfare at
a time of trauma was quite lovely.’
Similarly, when Jenny and Frank (KV, 50s) were asked about the process
of claiming insurance on their destroyed home, their immediate response
was to highlight the emotional support they received from their assessor.
Jenny stated, ‘I mean, I’ve got to know the assessor woman so well she’s
coming down for coffee [laughing] … She’s like a sister, you know, she’s
just, we ring up and they were so kind and it was so humbling.’ The couple’s insurance payout was ultimately not enough to cover the costs of their
planned rebuild. However, they attributed this problem to the large development approval fees from the local government, rather than limitations in
region to the south, where Kangaroo Valley is nestled into the foot of the
same mountain range. On 4 January 2020, the Currowan fire, which had
burnt across 320,845 ha in the previous 74 days, tore through the western
side of Kangaroo Valley. In mid-2020, 14 interviews were conducted with
19 Kangaroo Valley residents (including five couples).
Across the case study sites, participants’ homes were located on a range of
property types, including farms, holiday accommodation businesses, and
blocks of varying sizes in rural, suburban, and peri-urban areas. Experiences
of the fires also varied. Some participants stayed and defended their homes
through the fires, often in terrifying circumstances. Others evacuated before
the fires and returned home in subsequent days to find scorched landscapes
and, in several cases, destroyed homes. All participants had some form of
insurance policy or policies, be it home, contents, and/or farm insurance.
In both case studies, interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim.
Using the QSR NVivo v.11 qualitative data analysis software, transcripts
were coded and thematically analysed. The names of participants included
in this chapter are all pseudonyms.
Insurance and wellbeing
Insurance affected the wellbeing of participants in multiple and complex
ways, which were often disconnected from the monetary value of a payout.
An important contributing factor was how much value insurers were perceived to place on the mental health and emotional wellbeing of their clients
(Eriksen & de Vet 2020). In other words, did insurance assessors appear to
act purely as an extension of a financial mechanism, or did they actively
and visibly support the emotional needs of potentially traumatised individuals? David and Neal (Kangaroo Valley (KV), 50s), for example, lost their
home and a holiday rental in the Currowan fire. They were appreciative
of the speed with which their claim was processed by their insurer, which
had allowed them to begin plans for rebuilding relatively quickly. Also of
significance in their assessment of the value of insurance, was the empathy
and consideration of the insurance assessors who worked with them. David
praised ‘the one-on-one genuine compassion that was shown,’ while Neal
stated, ‘To get hugs from assessors who are concerned about your welfare at
a time of trauma was quite lovely.’
Similarly, when Jenny and Frank (KV, 50s) were asked about the process
of claiming insurance on their destroyed home, their immediate response
was to highlight the emotional support they received from their assessor.
Jenny stated, ‘I mean, I’ve got to know the assessor woman so well she’s
coming down for coffee [laughing] … She’s like a sister, you know, she’s
just, we ring up and they were so kind and it was so humbling.’ The couple’s insurance payout was ultimately not enough to cover the costs of their
planned rebuild. However, they attributed this problem to the large development approval fees from the local government, rather than limitations in