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Golriz Ghahraman breaks silence on criticism she used mental health as a shield

Thursday, 27 June 2024

Golriz Ghahraman arrives at court for sentencing

Golriz Ghahraman responds to criticism she played “the mental health card”.

Ghahraman tells Stuff that speaking publicly about mental health is “the hardest thing in the world”.

Greens co-leader Chloe Swarbrick admits both she and the Greens can do better when it comes to mental health after Ghahraman says the Green Party is “not there yet”.

Former Green MP Golriz Ghahraman strongly refutes using mental health as a shield to lessen the reputational damage of being caught shoplifting.

In her first public comments since the ordeal, Ghahraman has told Stuff that being honest about what she was going through wasn’t about shirking responsibility.

“Nobody's getting off easy by publicly talking about being f…… in the head, being someone who's in a mental health crisis,” she said.

Golriz Ghahraman at Auckland district court
Golriz Ghahraman at Auckland district court

“What I'd say about the whole, playing a ‘mental health card’ thing, is it's the hardest thing in the world.

“I wish to God I could just say, ‘I did something stupid, I'm going to plead guilty’ and leave.”

Ghahraman appeared before the Auckland District Court on Monday with the judge reserving the sentencing decision.

She will learn her fate on Thursday, having applied for a discharge without conviction. Ghahraman pleaded guilty to four charges of shoplifting relating to $8367 worth of clothing from three different shops.

When the revelations first came to light, Ghahraman stood down from parliament and in a statement said: “ The mental health professional I see says my recent behaviour is consistent with recent events giving rise to extreme stress response, and relating to previously unrecognised trauma.”

Golriz Ghahraman speaking in Parliament.
Golriz Ghahraman speaking in Parliament.

Speaking to Stuff on Wednesday, she said she’d done everything she could to take responsibility for her offending.

“So it's not a case of playing the mental health card to not go through all of the other things.

“I also resigned immediately, took responsibility immediately, so it was just context.”

Golriz Ghahraman and Chloe Swarbrick as new Green MPs.
Golriz Ghahraman and Chloe Swarbrick as new Green MPs.

People close to her had advised her not to be so open about what she was going through, they were worried it would open her up to criticism. And they were right.

“But for whatever reason, at that point, I was like, no, this is it. And I did say it, and it's hard. Raising your mental health with your boss or with your parent, or whoever, it's hard.”

She challenges her critics to think about the stigma they’re helping create when it comes to being honest about mental health. “Who else is reading that comment? Your kids? Who are also struggling?”

Ghahraman wasn’t ready for a full interview with the Tova podcast but responded to some questions in preparation for the pod’s extended interview with Greens co-leader Chloe Swarbrick.

Greens co-leader Chloe Swarbrick says Greens can do better on mental health.
Greens co-leader Chloe Swarbrick says Greens can do better on mental health.

Swarbrick told the podcast that people need to check themselves before they leap to criticism. “We do have a long way to go when it comes to actually seeing each other as human beings. So I'd implore people to look in the mirror and think about that.

“I myself have also been pretty forthright about, you know, my history of depression, for example, and received nowhere near the level of vitriol that Golriz did, and that I experienced, you know, sitting alongside her as her colleague.”

Greens could do better on mental health

Ghahraman told Stuff, “I think that my experience of being in parliament - even being within a very progressive party - we’re not there yet in terms of knowing how to walk the walk when it comes to mental health.

“When it’s not just the rhetoric of wellbeing, what it means to actually support someone, when you actually have to stand up for someone, we’re not there yet to actually change the institutional culture,” Ghahraman says.

Swarbrick concedes that the Greens can and should do better when it comes to mental health and says she takes responsibility as the party’s co-leader.

“There is of course work to do inside of our party. There is of course work to do in this institution. There is of course work to do for me as an individual when it comes to understanding how to best approach people who are in mental distress.”

Ghahraman says despite some public criticism - that she expected - she was overwhelmed by public support especially from people who had also dealt with their own mental health issues.

Because Ghahraman wasn’t checking her emails, her staff started printing the messages flooding her inbox. She says they had to stop when it hit 200 pages.

“Being in politics we know it's really hard to just get anyone motivated enough to write something. So I was like, ‘what the hell?’ So yes, there's that criticism of, ‘oh, you're just getting off easy’, but then there's a whole lot of people out there who were really moved by someone actually talking about it.”

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