MHM Magazine

22 | MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS | 2023 | Issue 4 MHM occurs and is regarded as the most effective organisational fraud detection tool. … Support and empowerment of whistleblowers should prioritise free access to wellness services to provide ongoing psychological counselling, career rehabilitation to victims of employer retaliation, and access to justice and financial aid.”  KEY AREAS OF INTERVENTION IDENTIFIED BY WSPR ARE: • Promoting awareness of whistleblowing and undertaking research on whistleblowers • Providing psychosocial interventions, including psychotherapy, career counselling and coaching • Offering interventions focused on personal security, legal support, legislative reform, financial assistance, and policy.  TREATING WHISTLEBLOWERS What does this have to do with mental health and other healthcare workers? And what risks do they face when they encounter whistleblowers? Many, if not all psychologists, psychiatrists, and others in the mental health field, are not new to hearing about whistleblowers, be they high- level executives in multinational corporations, or ordinary citizens. Both whistleblowers and wrongdoers are engaged in civil society groupings, in public organisations like the police, the judiciary, and academia, or they may work in State Owned Enterprises.  I asked Cynthia Stimpel what she thinks whistleblowers experience and what they need after they’ve exposed corruption and unethical practices. Her thoughts below:  “Whistleblowers suffer extreme loss for doing the right things and for speaking up. The loss is unquantifiable. The loss of current and future income, whereby one is unable to get any meaningful work with a reasonable income, the impact of going into debt and losing your home and your possessions which you have worked hard for, and then the knock- on effect of trauma – which impacts family and people close to you.  We as citizens of South Africa need to speak out; we also need to protect our identities in order not to lose our livelihoods and suffer the extreme consequences we know whistleblowers suffer. Hence, we encourage safe reporting through reputable organisations in order to protect the whistleblower.” MYTHS ABOUT WORKING WITH WHISTLEBLOWERS 1. It’s dangerous to work with whistleblowers. We often feel anxious when we meet new patients. Meeting whistleblowers, in my experience, is no different. Whistleblowers who have received advice before they expose corruption are often more prepared for the repercussions that Stimpel and Moyo have described. Others find themselves alone in the deep end. It isn’t unusual for us to see deeply affected, frightened patients who are psychically unravelling. That is what we do. While I’ve felt anxious and very concerned about whistleblowers, at no time have I felt afraid for myself or for those around me. 2. Whistleblowers are high-profile people.  The Zondo Commission into Allegations of State Capture, Corruption, and Fraud in the Public Sector details this in its recently released report. While many of those named and exposed in the report are high-profile people, there are many more ordinary citizens who find dishonesty in their workplaces. We know that corruption is rife, that it occurs across the board in schools, small businesses, in municipalities as well as in government and non-governmental organisations nationally and that it extends to international and multinational corporations doing business in South Africa.  3. We don’t personally know whistleblowers.  It would be surprising if we haven’t all had one or more whistleblowers in our consulting rooms. We’ve treated teachers who’ve questioned spending at their schools, people who’ve heard reports about organisations, businesses, and government departments where unethical practices are common. As healthcare workers, we’ve also had to struggle with situations involving colleagues who are out of bounds. Organisations are rife with both blue- and white-collar crimes. Who hasn’t heard of policemen or policewomen, traffic officers and others abusing their positions of power and authority for their own gain? This bullying behaviour occurs in many “regular” work, community, and domestic situations in which people, young and old, have been compromised in one way or another. Whistleblowers are ordinary people like you and me. WE ALL WORK WITH WHISTLEBLOWERS However, we are doing the therapeutic work. We have established study, supervision, and other groups to share technical and clinical know-how and to support each other, especially as each case we deal with is unique. We know about confidentiality, supportive psychotherapy, ethics, empathy, and compassion. And if we feel out of our depth with patients, we can seek help from colleagues, professional protection organisations, and from our boards at the HPCSA. What whistleblowers need from us is acceptance, kindness, psychological containment, and reassurance that they’re not crazy and that they can get through their life- shattering situations. Organisations that make up WSPR include Corruption Watch, the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF), the Southern African Institute for Responsive and Accountable Governance (SAIRAG), TWH and TIP. The initiative implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). WSPR is committed to making sustainable changes in the whistleblower environment through “collaboration, agility, innovation, and compassion.” A CALL TO ACTION Contact me for more information on how you can help. TWH pays R1000 per psychotherapy session and therapists doing this work can join a whistleblower supervision and study group that I’m setting up. Cynthia Stimpel will be advising the group. References available on request.