Journalist Self-Care
We report on the mental health challenges of others, but we're not immune ourselves. It’s likely journalism has more than its fair share of people who will experience psychological troubles in their lifetimes. Just look at what we do for a living.
When we think about work-related emotional stress, we usually think of conflict reporting, covering horrendous murder trials, acts of terrorism or natural disasters. But exposure to many other difficult situations can also trigger problems in anyone human - journalists included.
The distress caused by mental illness affects not only those who experience illness directly, but also their families and friends and, sometimes, those who get in close to tell their stories. That's not an excuse for standing back. As the former BBC war correspondent Martin Bell wrote in a different context, journalism that cares as well as knows is really the only sort worth having.
How can we best look after our psychological health when we care enough to engage? Finding a sense of purpose that goes beyond competitiveness, focusing on the good the story may do, and treating those involved in it with respect, even when it may seem you're exploiting their troubles, can help you keep an even keel. But it isn't always easy. We have a job to do and we can't just put it aside.
When Vincent Li beheaded Tim McLean on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba in 2008, horrified reporters still had to scramble for basic facts. The victim's parents were separated. Notifying them took longer than usual. Many hours into the story, reporters were still scrambling to discover McLean's identity. CBC's Karen Pauls got a tip-off - one she came to regret.
Karen Pauls picks up the story for Mindset
"WE'RE NOT TEFLON"
Even when the stories we cover don't involve horrific events or put us in the way of physical harm, the stress of competition and unforgiving deadlines can still help destabilize us. Julie Grenon, the TV journalists in Trois-Rivières diagnosed with bipolar disorder, told us: "For sure my profession fostered the bipolar side of me - my extreme bipolarity. It fed the beast."
Julie Grenon is back at work, her disorder under control. She speaks out to help others in similar situations. The days when we felt we needed to hide our humanity on the job are gone in most newsrooms, and not before time. The simple act of talking about what's troubling us can make a big difference. We owe it to each other to foster working environments where that's not just OK, but normal.
HELP IS AT HAND
More self-care advice, featuring Karen Pauls and Tim Wall.
The Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma was founded as an educational charity concerned with the physical and mental wellbeing of journalists. We offer one-day Risk Awareness Workshops to Canadian journalism schools on a shared-cost basis. These workshops educate students about a range of physical and emotional dangers in domestic and foreign reporting.
Our Forum Freelance Fund offers bursaries to help freelancers working for Canadian media attend hazardous environment training courses, alongside media staffers.
For more details about the Forum's work and other self-care resources, please visit our main website: www.journalismforum.ca or email us info@journalismforum.ca.