Mental Health and Journalism

Welcome to the Knight Center’s new MOOC, “Mental health and journalism: How journalists can responsibly report on it and take care of themselves,” organized by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, with support from the Carter Center and in collaboration with The Self-Investigation.  

During this five-week massive open online course, which will be held from June 27 to July 31, 2022, students will learn how to take care of their mental health in a stressful industry, as well as how to report on mental health issues with greater accuracy and empathy.

This course is offered to journalists free of charge. The course is asynchronous, so you can log in to the course and complete activities throughout the week at your own pace, at the times and on the days that are most convenient for you. There are no live events scheduled at specific times, and the course is very flexible. If you are behind with the materials, you have the entire length of the course to complete them. 

In five weeks, the course will cover:

Module 1: Facts about stress and mental health, including basic self-care skills and burnout prevention
Module 2: Working and collaborating in a healthier way in the digital world, including looking at vicarious trauma and online harassment
Module 3: Raising awareness and generating a healthier working culture, including integrating well-being into company policies
Module 4: How to tell stories that build empathy, not pathology, including looking at mental “illness” as a social construct
Module 5: How to care for your subjects, including best interview practices and caring for your subject’s mental health