Learn How to Write About Mental Health and Suicide
Robert Vore shared this on his Facebook page, and with everything going on this past week, as well as a realization that all of us who deal with mental health issues on any kind of social media platform, I thought it would be appropriate to share. I plan on spending some time with this next week myself, in fact.
There is a free (thanks to grants) class offered by Poynter News University called Reporting on Mental Health Conditions and Suicide
From the description:
WHO SHOULD TAKE THIS COURSE:
Print, online and broadcast journalists (including reporters, producers, editors, copy editors, designers, photojournalists, bloggers and social media users) working on varied beats, journalism students, educators, veterans, mental health advocates and general public. This course will help everyone to gain a better understanding of mental health conditions, mental illness and covering suicide.
I’m pretty sure that includes most of us.
If taking the self-directed course is a bit too much for you, at least take a few minutes to look at this resource from AFSP for journalists.
It matters. How we talk about mental health and suicide can have a massive effect on people who are suffering. We owe it to them to be thoughtful about this.
