Wentworth

...And caring Chapter 3

"Franky Doyle. Her parole hearing is in a matter of weeks. No doubts you're aware of the rumors that have been circulating."
"I pay no attention to gossip, Governor."
"As a rule, neither do I. But when it comes to incorrect relations between staff and prisoners, I can't afford to ignore it."
"There is no truth to it."
"I'm merely concerned that Doyle might be exploiting this, to influence your report on her."
"Hm, I'm confident she won't."
"Franky Doyle has a habit of doing things you least expect. She is... She is far too emotional for her own good," answered Joan, wiping the dust off her desk.
"Well, better a surfeit than a deficit."
"What does that mean?"

Bridget stared at the older woman, tilting her head.

"Well, a deficit of emotion, particularly a lack of affective empathy would make you psychopathic."

Joan's face changed altogether, questions flying across her face, lowering her eyes to her desk, sadness washing over them.

"But that's not Franky, she uses empathy to her advantage."
"You think so? Inquired dryly the Governor, looking up at the psychologist."
"And people are drawn to her because of it."
"And does that include you?"
"I think I've answered that question, Governor."

Bridget placed Joan's pen down, before standing up, staring at the older woman.

"Is that all?"
"Hm. I just, hm, out of interest, have you, hm, have you made any breakthroughs with Doyle?"
"Breakthroughs?"
"No insights to report?"
"My sessions are confidential."
"Yeah, I... I'm just asking if you've learned anything that might preclude your recommending her release."
"If Franky is ready and deserving of parole, anyone in my position would make the same recommendation."

The blonde left the office, closing the door behind her. Joan stared as the psychologist left, she glared at the pen and took a rag from one of the drawers of her desk. She picked the pen with the rag and rubbed it thoroughly before placing it back where it belonged. Joan glanced at the secretary seated at her desk and then her computer screen. She opened Google and her fingers hovered above the keys, her eyes glued on the white page. Joan took a deep breath, apprehension slowly rising inside of her.
What if Westfall was right?
She started typing, the knot in her belly tightening. She pressed enter and waited. The results came up and Joan leaned forward, her eyes flying across the screen, swallowing thickly.

"Empathy : the ability to understand and share the feelings of another."

She took a deep breath, scrolling down, trying to catch any information with even the slightest bit of truth in it.

"Cognitive Empathy : knowing how the other person feels and what they might be thinking, sometimes called perspective-taking."

"Emotional Empathy : when you feel physically along with the person, as though their emotions are contagious."

"Compassionate Empathy : not only you understand a person's predicament and feel with them, but you are spontaneously moved to help if needed."

Intellectually, Joan understood these terms. The words made sense to her, she could think of a handful of times where she could remember feeling these things... A handful... Pff, who was she trying to fool. Joan took a deep breath, lowering her eyes. She knew these things well. Too well. She couldn't stop the feelings, she had just become good at hiding them so there would be no repercussions. She glanced back up at the screen, gritting her teeth. Joan scrolled back up and wrote something else. She waited for a second again and the moment the results appeared, she started reading, her lips parting.

"Nature vs nurture, social learning"

"[...]people can increase their capacity for empathy through modeling and experiencing empathy from others."
"When a child had not had anyone give them their emotional experiences any attention, time or value, it is understandable how the child might likely continue to experience the world and relationships without this important skill."
"[...] things the child could have missed out on : observe someone practicing empathy, someone teaching them the value of emotions, learning how to build meaningful connections with people."