‘Wanna chat?’ Canadian journalists building national peer support program
The Canadian Association of Journalists is building a first-of-its-kind nation-wide peer support program to offer safe, confidential colleague-to-colleague conversations. This May the CAJ will launch a pilot project and is currently seeking 20 volunteers to be trained as occasional peer supporters to help news industry professionals across the country. Founding sponsors include the Globe and Mail, CBC, The Canadian Press, Unifor, Canadian Media Guild and the Canadian Mental Health Association -B.C. Learn more…
Workload, job cuts, uncertainty threaten journalists’ mental health
News professionals warn that intense workload, fear of job loss, pressure to ‘get it right’ and distress at not being able to maintain standards are top job hazards affecting their mental health, according to a new report on psychological safety. That’s in addition to routine exposure to death, violence, traumatic imagery. Psychological Safety in Canada’s News Industry was sponsored by the Canadian Association of Journalists and released in February 2025.
Reporting on mass shootings: journalist lessons from Uvalde, Texas
"For 89% of our study’s participants Uvalde was the first mass shooting they covered and they overwhelmingly reported that they felt woefully unprepared… Many said they felt ‘cheated’ or ‘let down’ by their news managers and the industry for throwing them in the deep end with no relevant trainings.”
Why are Gen-Z journalists burning out?
"Gen-Z has inherited an industry that today is now 24 hour news, driven by lightning fast social media, defined by multi platform journalism, pronounced distrust and hostility toward news media - all with pay that hasn't kept up which has made it harder for younger journalists."
Summit on mental health in journalism a big, global first
“Our ultimate goal is that, within the next few years, every media company in the world incorporates proactive actions to take care of the wellbeing of their most valued asset: its people,”
New methods emerge to teach ‘trauma-awareness’ in j-schools
Virtual reality, actor simulations and video ‘micro learning’ are being used to teach journalism students how to cover trauma, disasters, and human suffering.
How can we improve reporting on trauma and disaster?
We’ve all made mistakes as journalists. Here are a few of mine.
I’ll never forget the day I knocked on the door of a woman who’d recently been attacked by a serial killer. Thinking I’d stumbled on a dramatic scoop, I raced to interview her and put this survivor on the radio news without first thinking about the impact on her, let alone the community.
My ‘scoop’ only compounded her misery.
Journalists ‘psychologically injured’ at work on the rise in Canada
It’s vital we uncover just how frequently our people suffer mental injuries from our work — for our own awareness and to ensure our news companies pay attention, examine the risks, and take appropriate action to better protect people who routinely cover trauma and human suffering.
Journalist’s PTSD memoir offers important lessons for news industry
Dean Yates has been to hell and back. Line in the Sand is a raw, deeply personal account of life-threatening PTSD injury suffered as a journalist with Reuters, his recovery, and an exploration of how the news industry deals with mental injury on the job.
Six steps to protect newsroom mental health
Newsrooms seeking ‘practical steps’ to improve mental health got an earful - and some good ideas - this week courtesy of The Journalist’s Resource.
WELL-BEING IN NEWS
IMPROVING MENTAL HEALTH IN JOURNALISM
