World Mental Health Day was earlier this month, and The Self-Investigation marked the yearly celebration with a summit dedicated to tackling mental health issues in the media.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the summit, providing advice for individual journalists, and points for newsrooms and organisations to consider.

Dealing with online abuse

It’s become commonplace for journalists to deal with online abuse. The tactics vary but can include hate speech, doxing (publishing sensitive info), online impersonation, message bombing, non consensual intimate images, and gendered disinformation. A study by UNESCO and the International Center for Journalists reveals that 73% of women journalists across the world have experienced online violence or harassment. 

Jeje Mohamed, a holistic safety and security advisor and risk management expert and co-founder of Aegis Safety Alliance, recommended a few ways that journalists can improve their digital safety. She firstly suggested practising password hygiene – using passwords that are more than sixteen characters and making sure they are unique, using a password manager, and enabling two factor authentication on as many accounts as possible.

The above can help with issues such as doxing and online impersonation, but what can be done about hate speech and more general abuse online? Susan McGregor, a research scholar at Columbia University’s Data Science Institute, recommended that journalists set up peer support groups. She explained the benefits of reporters having somewhere to vent their frustrations and discuss their experiences as well as hear what others are going through in a safe space.

Trauma awareness, emotional regulation, and avoiding burnout

A lot of the stories that journalists cover – be that covering natural disasters, war, or crime – can impact their mental health and potentially cause trauma. Ariel Ritchin, senior producer and programme director at the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, spoke about the toolkit of educational videos that they have created, in collaboration with the Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma, to help enhance journalism trauma practices. 

These trauma-aware journalism videos tackle ethical relationships with sources, duty of care, setting boundaries and limits, and talking with peers. These resources can be used by individual journalists or newsrooms to help foster better practices and prevent burnout.

Another method that could help prevent burnout is constructive journalism. Hans Henrik Knoop, director of the Positive Psychology Research Unit at Aarhus University in Denmark, shared that scientific studies have shown that constructive journalism has a positive emotional impact on journalists. 

‘It’s more natural to look at problems and try to find solutions than to just look at problems and accept the suffering of not being able to do anything’.

James Scurry, senior producer at Sky News and co-founder of Safely Held Spaces, discussed the benefits of being ‘emotionally regulated’ to help with interviewing people that have been through trauma. He said that journalists should be doing breathing exercises to help with this regulation and have more awareness of their mind and body. This will lead to more empathetic and respectful interview practices and result in more accurate and sensitive reporting.

Best practices for the newsroom

Hannah Storm, media consultant and founder and co-director of Headlines Network, and Dave Seglins, investigative journalist and well-being champion for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, outlined the ten best practices for newsrooms to help improve mental health in the media.

1. Research – identifying the problem via research and data
2. Education – making sure journalists get psychological safety training, mental health training and trauma training
3. Newsroom protocols – having risk assessments before assigning trauma stories and then giving reporters a chance to process stressful deployments after.
4. Leadership – leaders setting an example and being a role model by talking about their mental health and giving people permission to address their own.
5. Hire specialists – someone’s job who is involved in journalism to focus on mental health and someone who isn’t, as well.
6. Invest in people – the financial benefits of investing in mental health are less absenteeism and sick leave and more productivity
7. Peer support – informal or formal networks inside news organisations with trained colleagues offering advice
8. Wellbeing benefits – looking into benefits such as wellbeing apps and gym memberships that can improve journalists mental health
9. Specialised counselling for journalists
10. Be the change – what role can you play in normalising conversations and taking action to improve journalists mental health?