Mental health guide for journalists

May 31, 2024

MANILA – As I have said repeatedly, journalists are an endangered species. Many of us have suffered, at some point in our careers or vocation, some form of traumatization.

“May is Mental Health Awareness Month,” the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) announced, “a reminder of the significant emotional tolls reporting can take on journalists while bringing us the truth. At the IWMF, we believe that prioritizing journalists’ physical, digital, and mental well-being is critical to a thriving and sustainable global news media.”

IWMF has come up with “A Mental Health Guide for Journalists Facing Online Violence” which provides step-by-step instructions on how to deal with online violence that impacts journalists’ well-being.
Reporters, IWMF adds, endure serious first- and second-hand trauma even while bringing the news to the world. The guide provides journalists with tools and tactics to protect their mental health. Now also in Farsi and Arabic, the IWMF guide is available online. Media organizations and individual journalists can download the 32-page guide. (Click https://www.iwmf.org/mental-health-guide/)

I printed and read the guide and found it useful for journalists who suffer online violence along with actual physical threats that could be carried out against them by those who do not like the truth exposed and the evildoers of this world unmasked. Those in other professions can also use the guide.

Psychoanalyst Ana Maria Zellhuber-Pérez and psychologist Juan Carlos Segarra Pérez prepared the guide. Both are specialists in emergency psychology. Zellhuber-Pérez has worked with international organizations to provide psychological support for those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder