Mental Health for Journalists
Mental Health for Journalists
Editor’s note: Besides the resources listed here, you also can find mental health and reporting safety resources here: Covering Protests and Pandemic Reporting Safety. This page features resources for journalists with mental health needs and also links for covering mental health.
The Dart Center Style Guide for Trauma-Informed Journalism
The style guide is designed as a quick, authoritative reference for reporters, editors and producers working on tight deadlines. It includes brief evidence-informed guidance on news choices, language usage and ethics in reporting on the impact of trauma on individuals, families and communities; recommendations for appropriate use of relevant psychological and scientific terminology; and special considerations when reporting on consequential trauma-laden issues such as racism and sexual violence.
Dart Center: Resources for Covering Disasters
Includes materials on mental health and trauma.
Dart: Journalism Trauma Support Network
The program’s mission is to establish an international community of qualified therapists trained to care for trauma-impacted journalists. It provides therapists with cultural competence and data security training, peer support and referral pathways.
Dart Center: PTSD and Mental Health
Dart Center: Self-Care Tips for Journalists
Dart Center: Reporting on Sexual Violence in Conflict
An excellent resource from Dart Center Europe.
Dart Center: Guide for Editors Working with Freelancers Exposed to Trauma
First Draft News: Journalism and Vicarious Trauma
A guide for journalists, editors and news organizations.
Dart Center: Choosing a Psychotherapist
Tips from a therapist on how journalists can pick one best for them.
Dart Center: How Can Indigenous Reporters Care for Themselves While Covering Trauma
And how newsrooms can help.
Dart Center: Chair Yoga for Journalists
Watch this YouTube video on ways to relieve stress and stretch … without leaving your desk.
The Journalist’s Resource: Journalists are Under Stress. What’s the Solution?
The Journalist’s Resource: Self-Care Tips for Journalists
The Journalist’s Resource: How Journalists’ Jobs Impact Their Mental Health
An excellent research roundup.
The Journalist’s Resource: Studies on Kids Dealing with Mental Health Issues During COVID-19
RTDNA: Newsroom Mental Health Resource Guide
RTDNA: Newsroom Depression: Warning Signs and Strategies
IJNet: Mental Health and Journalism Toolkit
IJNet: Mental Health Tips for Journalists
IJNET: Tips for coping after reporting distressing and traumatic stories
Journalists Covering Trauma Facebook Group
GIJN: Resources for Journalists Coping with Trauma
List compiled from 2021 IRE Conference.
GIJN: How COVID-19 Compounded Journalism’s Mental Health Crisis
Poynter: Self-Care for Journalists
IRE: A Conversation on Mental Health (2021)
A handout full of great advice from a 2021 IRE conference panel
USC Center for Health Journalism: It’s Time Journalists Take Their Own Mental Health Seriously
American Psychological Association: Journalists as Precarious First Responders
Association of Health Care Journalists: Mental Health
Journalists Are Under Stress: What is the Solution?
Research and resources from Harvard’s Journalists Resource.
National Mass Violence and Victimization Resource Center
Study Hall: The COVID Reporters Are Not OK. Extremely Not OK
Nieman Lab: Journalists Are Suffering Mental Health Consequences from Covering COVID-19
Nieman Reports: How Journalists Are Managing Their Mental Health
Nieman Storyboard: Five Tips for Journalists Covering Mental Health
Reuters Institute: It’s Time for Newsrooms to Tackle Taboos About Mental Health
The Carter Center: Journalism Resource Guide on Behavioral Health
Under Pressure: Coping With Stress and Knowing You’re Not Alone
Tipsheet from Ken Armstrong of ProPublica
Nieman Storyboard: An Editor’s Sensitive Guide to Interviewing Trauma Victims
Media Guide-o-Matic
A WordPress free plugin has been launched to help reduce stigma surrounding mental illness. Canadian journalist Karissa Gall teamed up with the Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma to launch the free “Media Guide-o-Matic” plugin on the widely-used WordPress platform. Similar to how spell-checking tools automatically check for spelling mistakes, Media Guide-o-Matic automatically checks draft WordPress posts for words and phrases that have been identified as contributors to stigma in the third edition of Mindset: Reporting on Mental Health. The plugin saves time for journalists who publish their work on the widely-used WordPress platform, and helps them improve their reporting.
Journalism.co.uk: How to Report on Neurodiversity Accurately and Ethically
CJR: Journalists Need More Help Than Ever Coping With Work Trauma
Troll-Busters
Resources galore for dealing with online harassment. Built by journalists for journalists.
Covering Mass Tragedies
A guide from the Journalists Covering Trauma Facebook Group.
Journalism’s Mental Health Dilemma
Vice: When Being a Journalist is Terrible for Your Mental Health
Carrying Trauma: Care for Journalists and Sources
Great tips from Trollbusters and the Dart Center.
WNYC Podcast: Journalists Are Burning Out
Vice: The Reporters Who Survived the Capital Riot Are Still Struggling
AAPI Journalists’ Financial Assistance for Mental Wellness
Fill out this form to ask for help.
International Women’s Media Foundation: Black Journalists Therapy Relief Fund
Product Hunt: Peer Collective
Connect with clinically vetted peer mental health professionals through Zoom or phone. Affordable, on-demand support.
How Covering Violent Crimes Impacts Journalists’ Mental Health
J-Source: When the News Breaks the Journalist
Stanford: Media & Mental Health Initiative
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press Resources Archive
Rural Journalists Deal with Mental Health Toll of COVID-19
Harvard Business Review: Beyond Burned Out
Story on people burning out during the pandemic. Subscriber-only article.
ICFJ: How Disinformation and Hate Fuel Online Attacks Against Women Journalists