Dr. Stephen Winters’ lecture on monetary redress was very thought-provoking, and in particular, the strains monetary redress programs face in protecting their applicants’ privacy. Dr. Winters highlighted the difficulty of contacting applicants, let alone obtaining highly sensitive information needed to address their claims. Moreover, Dr. Winters maintained that information must be obtained ethically, with minimal psychological risk to the applicant. Dr. Winters pointed out that, in some cases, the relevant information has been repressed by the applicant, making it extremely traumatic for them to re-live their experiences. I found Dr. Winters’ observations to be highly useful with my hope of becoming a Clinical Psychologist. It got me thinking about how best to support future clients who may find themselves in these fraught situations.
In terms of my future research, Dr. Winters’ underscored the degree to which it is necessary to protect confidentiality. Whether in the conduction of my own study or a monetary redress program, I realised how vital it is to protect others’ privacy since we do not know what is at stake for those individuals, should that confidentiality be broken. To explain this tension, Dr. Winters used the example of an applicant receiving monetary compensation through her claim, but supposing her partner wanted to know where the money was coming from and why she was getting it. Dr. Winters’ lecture was insightful, and it challenged me to consider what lengths I may need to go to to protect the privacy of my research participants or future clients.
