Research by Stephen Winter aimed to tell the stories of people who made claims of historic abuse in New Zealand state care and to investigate New Zealand’s monetary redress program.
I found this research intriguing as a psychology student, but rather than focusing on the psychology of people as survivors of state abuse, Winter researched them as “experts on how the system works,” regarding claiming state abuse, and later navigating the state reparatory program.
This allowed Winter to use his research in a submission for updating the policy of state care. This highlighted the main use of his research: to help people.
Due to losing my brother to suicide 5 years ago, part of my interest in psychology is the ability to arrive at the truth in order to help people, even if that truth may be uncomfortable to talk about, particularly when regarding something that affects mental health. Winter’s research certainly achieved this, but from a different angle than I would have considered. Directly hitting the target at its source, Winter sought to use his research to change the policy of the abuser itself. This revealed to me another avenue of research, being bold and honest to create direct change.
