I Transformed from a Bystander into an Advocate Whistleblower Series #1 I transformed from an unwilling bystander to someone who is a vocal advocate, researcher, consultant and writer about child abuse and the system that enables it. This is my former life that I had to give up when I spoke up. From the…
Hopefully you’ve seen the film Spotlight about relentless journalists exposing rampant child abuse in the Catholic Churches of Boston. My key take-away from the film is that being a whistleblower requires a lot of grit and commitment. If you want to make actual change, whistleblowers have to stay the course. People say “it takes a village to…
Kyle Beach is a brilliant example of how being a whistleblower is not self-sacrifice, but self-determination. If you haven’t been following the story, this is a picture of Kyle Beach who yesterday moved from abuse victim into the whistleblower role as covered on TSN. I told you at the start, I decided to write this blog…
It’s all around Falling in love is the most wonderful feeling in the world. So can we hang onto that special magic? Love flickers, fades and falls into routine, even for the most in-love couples. Science explains why. Brain chemicals sparking romance are different to the long-term blend. Espresso turns to Nescafé. It’s hard to…
Give it a squeeze! What’s the best way to choose a perfect peach? Give it a squeeze! Now scientists say it’s the same for IVF embryos. Engineers are a practical bunch. Teamed with doctors at Stanford University, bioengineers realised the feel of newly formed IVF embryos offers a super quick indicator of viability. Normally it takes 5-6 days…
The village that a whistleblower needs is not only others who report abuse – and at my son’s school there were at least 12 to 14 students in that one year alone, along with their infuriated and vocal parents. In the whistleblower crisis at Amazon, there were only two courageous employees. Emily Cunningham and Maren…
Whistleblowers are afraid because those you expose attack what you care about. While whistleblowers are often praised after the fact for being courageous, few talk about how frightening it is to take this role. Dorothy Suskind writes that “whistleblowers place themselves in the path of an oncoming train in an effort to force a reckoning.”…
Only Child Abuse Could Make Me Speak Up I am an unlikely whistleblower, but where I find courage is when I hear directly from children they’re being abused. Only child abuse could make me speak up. I know what it’s like to be an unwilling bystander and a self-protective sheeple, but the only thing that…
Miscarriage hurts, and is often misunderstood. Síle Seoige’s groundbreaking TG4 documentary ‘Deireadh Tochta’ follows her journey, shares stories, explores research, finds help. I’m delighted to have been part of her healing to a rainbow pregnancy. I was a ‘rainbow’ baby, born after my mother’s fourth miscarriage. She felt each of her pregnancy losses all her…
Collision of Consciousness and Circumstance I had always been a believer in education, justice, and government in my country. Cut to the collision between consciousness and circumstance: five years I watched how school administrators handled abuse reports about the one teacher, who was ultimately fired, showed me a coverup-culture at work, but belief-systems constructed through childhood…