Special Hearings — Mental Health Workshop — UNKNOWN

MR GREY: I thought (...indistinct) academic session.

PARTICIPANT: (...indistinct)

MR GREY: Okay. And then more preventative and proactive intervention taking multi-generation factors into consideration. Well that's an over-riding thing really with all the things we need to be proactive, develop sort of proactive. Group 2 will consider the role of mental health workers in a transforming society. I rephrase that from the role of psychologists in entertaining political, because I think that's just more accurate in terms of what we're trying to achieve.

PARTICIPANT: Sorry. I think the question of torture and the long term management of what we're talking about should come under that.

PARTICIPANT: Ja.

PARTICIPANT: Ja. Like looking at what we've designed in the medium term and long term.

MR GREY: Okay.

PARTICIPANT: Look what (...indistinct) okay the last two (...indistinct)

MR GREY: Okay. (...indistinct) We said training (...indistinct) clearly how we envisaged training. I mean Saths spoke about representivity in courses, the knowledge base. But what do we see, first of all a group will deal with this. But how do we see training contributing to a sort of more healthy development of mental health workers? Okay and then ownership and acquisition of new knowledge was another issue that was raised. How we're going to do that? How we going to encourage that proactively? Contribution to policy development. We said how it's a shame that workers on the ground don't contribute to policy development. What sort of recommendations are we going to come up around that?
 And then accessibility, social relevance of psychology. I think that Saths was speaking to us, oh it's Mohammed Seedat. How we're going to make mental health and psychology more accessible or relevant to people beyond the suburbs?

PARTICIPANT: (...indistinct)

MR GREY: Okay and another one?

PARTICIPANT: Ja. Broadening the training. I think it has been said it must be broadened I think to the whole mental health team, including everybody. But also I think, I stand to correct me, I think that we need also to look back that if you talk of academic information and knowledge it was more or less, I know that other people in some institutions look down on other alternative methods of research. I believe that with the victims of torture the research - I'm happy that the sociology is here, that will be very more accessible and more (...indistinct) to our people in the qualitative research. Because they've got stories to tell. We need to look at that as well. And in our training we need to look at those people who can access those experiences through alternative type. I know it's not so much popular in some of the academic institutions but I think that to be relevant we need to look at the other type of accessing information.

MR GREY: I think that is a good point. Research is really the preserve of about five journals. I mean how do you put out what knowledge is being gained to people generally and not just keep it in-house.

PARTICIPANT: I think (...indistinct) sense that academics (...indistinct) experience (...indistinct) the other issues that will impact you know the experience like cultural environment and so on.

MR GREY: And other topics for transforming the role of mental health workers and transforming society? (...indistinct) say just society themselves as well participate.

PARTICIPANT: (...indistinct) I hope you look at also capacity building. Because really mental health is something which is always been done by different groupings, religious groups, cultural or indigenous healers that we need to (...indistinct)

MR GREY: Okay. And the other heading that was one of our sections was the contributions to a progressive psychology. We were examining what was the contribution of the progressive psychological bodies but what are we going to say about progressive psychology? We said, we touched on academic improvements in terms of, I mean it's merging with the topics on the other side. But how (...indistinct) representivity in relation between NGO's, CVO's and government, how is it going to be established? But I ran dry perhaps you could give us a few more pointers, we will be (...indistinct)?

PARTICIPANT: I would imagine that a lot of this actually falls, comes under previous (...indistinct) really shouldn't actually be a separate and not only again I think it is progressive health (...indistinct)

PARTICIPANT: (...indistinct)

MR GREY: Great, we'll just use these two sheets. Are there any other comments around? Okay the second group will be Doctor Bhana and Glenda. The first group will be Lionel and Wendy. Darkies and whities.

PARTICIPANT: I just want to know about the (...indistinct) partners that including (...indistinct)

PARTICIPANT: On community (...indistinct) ja where there's NGO's.

PARTICIPANT: (...indistinct) separate topic. (...indistinct)

MR GREY: Thank you. Right I see you're thirsty now to participate. We've been talking too much. One more (...indistinct)

PARTICIPANT: (...indistinct) on the issue of mental health (...indistinct) either of both groups but I didn't see it quite fitting into either of those.

MR GREY: No I took out the role of detainees but I think that in terms of torture I think that covers. And in terms of - what was the second one?

PARTICIPANT: (...indistinct)

MR GREY: I think it's over-riding, I think it over-rides them both. I think they've been absorbed into both of them really. Unless anyone feels really strongly.

PARTICIPANT: Can I just say something? I should think it was (...indistinct) critical. We should look at the (...indistinct) which come out with those.

MR GREY: Oh yes.

PARTICIPANT: Ja. So that in the process that is not lost. So

MR GREY: (...indistinct)

PARTICIPANT: What I'm saying even what we say oh that's an overall issue we should make sure that it's captured. Otherwise when we write up a report we'll lose out or groups might easily miss out. We should always refer to what we said, the key areas. Because the reason why we lost that is because we thought we are not, our numbers are small for us to have four groups.

MR GREY: Okay.

PARTICIPANT: The original idea was to make sure that those things are kept alive.

MR GREY: They are, they are. fair enough I'll just point them out. Political repression, I think if we can cover custodial law maybe. I mean I think that's one, somebody mentioned prisons and correctional services. I think that's one area where legislatively psychology or mental health involvement could to come to sort of bring to bear some sort of positive influence. But has anybody got any suggestions what, how can we phrase that question about the use of psychology for political ends? How can we do that?

PARTICIPANT: (...indistinct) to raise is the issue of psychological testing (...indistinct)

PARTICIPANT: (...indistinct)in a sense that (...indistinct)

PARTICIPANT: (...indistinct) psychologists and psychiatrists who refusing to the rights of covering up their views are still in position to major powers, major advisors of provincial health (...indistinct) foreseeable future. And if we ignore those (...indistinct) it will continue and (...indistinct) we will do what usually is done with mental health. Institutions of health (...indistinct) so important, all of us do that, all of us and in fact nobody ever does in any (...indistinct) to be going on some

MR GREY: Alright we're talking about rehabilitating (...indistinct)? What are we talking about?