Language Guide for Reporting on Mental Health
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Meet the 2019-2020 Fellows
Clarissa Levy
Clarissa Levy is a journalist with experience covering human rights, politics, economics and health issues. She directed…
Elly Yu
Elly Yu is an investigative reporter at KPCC/LAist, which she joined in November 2019. She previously worked…
Soreath Hok
Soreath Hok is a reporter for KVPR, Valley Public Radio in Fresno, CA. She currently covers local…
Frequently Asked Questions
The goals of the fellowship are to:
- Increase effective and accurate reporting on behavioral health issues
- Equip journalists with the tools needed to produce high-quality work that reflects an understanding of behavioral health
- Develop a diverse cohort of better-informed journalists who can more effectively report on behavioral health across evolving and emerging platforms
Fellows are notified individually by program staff by telephone before The Carter Center makes an official announcement on the center website and via press release. These calls are confidential. Due to the high volume of applications, applicants not selected as Fellows will not be contacted. Click here for the announcement date.
To see a database of projects completed by Rosalynn Carter Fellows during their fellowship year, visit the Rosalynn Carter Fellows’ project database to search by Fellow name or year.
New Zealand
In 2006, the New Zealand Mental Health Media Grants program was established to sustain the work of the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships in New Zealand without The Carter Center. The Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand and the national anti-discrimination campaign, “Like Minds, Like Mine,” are co-creators and supporters of the program.
The grants are awarded each year to creative and journalistic projects in New Zealand that challenge people’s perceptions of the experience of mental distress and the journey to recovery.
New Zealander applicants should visit mediagrants.org.nz to apply, pre-register for next year’s Grants round or find out more about past winning Creative and Journalism projects.
For more information about the South African Fellowships Program, please contact:
Danielle Whitburn
Grants Coordinator
Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand
danielle.whitburn@mentalhealth.org.nz
Romania
In 2013-2014, The Carter Center and the Center for Independent Journalism in Bucharest awarded the final two fellows in the collaborative program.
For more information about future opportunities in Romania, please contact:
Cristina Lupu
Executive Director
Center for Independent Journalism
Bdul. Regina Elisabeta, no.32
Bucharest, Romania
www.cji.ro
www.facebook.com/Centrul.Jurnalism.Independent
South Africa
In 2011, the South African Fellowship Program was created to sustain the work of the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships in South Africa without The Carter Center. The South African fellowships are now administered through the South African Depression and Anxiety Group.
For more information about the South African Fellowships Program, please contact:
Marion Scher
Media Mentors/Freelance Journalist
2005-2006 Rosalynn Carter Fellow
Johannesburg, South Africa
Tel: +27 82 467 6046
Email: journo@icon.co.za
Recently
Families take drastic steps to help children in mental health crises
The Center for Public Integrity, by Christine Herman, March 16, 2023: An insufficient mental health care system pushes some families to give up custody of their children for care. States look for better solutions. When Lisa Norris adopted her daughter Hannah out of foster care as a toddler in 2010,…
Proven Schizophrenia Treatments Keep People in School, at Work and off the Street. Why Won’t Insurance Companies Cover Them?
KQED, by April Dembosky, March 1, 2023: What if, instead of telling patients with schizophrenia to prepare for a lifetime of disability, we asked them what they want and worked with them toward full recovery? When Yvonne was walking across campus and heard someone calling her name, she stopped and…
Jails fail to accommodate people with mental illness. In some cases, it’s a civil rights violation.
WITF, by Brett Sholtis, November 14, 2022: As a note of disclosure, WITF and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press are challenging in court Bucks County’s refusal to release a video of an incident involving Kimberly Stringer while she was in Bucks County Correctional Facility. Months before her…
Healing Through Culture: Increasing access to Native American practices to treat mental health
Cronkite News, story and video by Laura Bargfeld, audio story by Natalie Skowlund, November 4, 2022: HOUCK – In a remote hogan near the southern edge of the Navajo Nation, Wayne Wilson lights a fire, lays out eagle feathers and remembers his grandfather’s teachings. “He would talk to me and…
California is trying to house the homeless through a health insurance program. It worked for this man.
Los Angeles Times, by Lila Seidman, October 19, 2022: On a blistering hot Friday in August, Donald Winston, 56, lugged black trash bags stuffed with belongings up four flights of stairs to what had just become his first-ever home of his own. Winston sweated profusely as the plastic bags began…
Uvalde prompted Texas to start taking mental health funding for schools seriously. Is it enough?
Texas Public Radio, by Bonnie Petrie, September 27, 2022: [Petrie Dish Podcast] On a sweet, sunny spring Tuesday, children across the state were preparing for summer break, feeling that giddy rush that comes to kids in those last, loose days of the school year when unstructured hours of summer fun…
Texas bans many proven tools for helping drug users. Advocates are handing them out anyway.
The Texas Tribune, by Sneha Dey, October 11, 2022: HOUSTON — Thirty minutes before a punk show this summer, Claudia Dambra set up a table and taped to it a tablecloth she had hand-painted with broad, white brushstrokes. The banner read, “PUNK NOT DEATH.” As people flooded into the Houston…
“It’s destroying me”: Storm after storm, climate change increases strain on Texans’ mental health
The Texas Tribune, September 8, 2022, by Erin Douglas: HOUSTON — The first thing Dana Jones, 61, tells you to do when you enter her gray-blue house in Melrose Park is walk along the off-white tile, up and down, through her dining room, while she watches carefully for your reaction….
There’s Free Mental Health Help For Crime Victims, But Providers Say Bureaucracy Gets In The Way
SCPR/KPCC, Sep 9, 2022, by Robert Garrova: About three years ago, a Southern California resident we’ll call Jane —we’re not using her real name because of a pending trial and security concerns— and her husband found out their child had been assaulted. “Your world is rocked. We couldn’t sleep for…
Youth access to mental health care improved under Jake’s Law, but persistent barriers hamper its reach
Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting (AZCIR), September 1, 2022, by Shaena Montanari and Maria Polletta: In March 2020, Gov. Doug Ducey signed into law a sweeping set of measures designed to help curb rising rates of suicide and expand access to mental health treatment for Arizona residents with and without…
Why is it so hard to find therapists who take insurance in Illinois?
Chicago Tribune, August 21, 2022, by Lisa Schencker: Meena Thiruvengadam faced a choice when her therapist stopped taking health insurance about a year ago. She could try to find someone else who would take her insurance, or she could pay her therapist — whom she trusted and had already been…
How Georgia’s new mental health law works
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 3, 2022, by Katherine Landergan: There’s a new law on the books that should make accessing treatment for mental illness and addiction much easier. But some proponents of the new law fear that many Georgia residents may not know about the change. That means patients could…
How researchers are getting farmers to talk about mental health
Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB), August 9, 2022, by Riley Bunch: Christina Proctor spent many hours during her childhood on the front porches of neighborhood farms in Madison County. She had a rough upbringing, she said, and lived in a house scarred by substance abuse. “But we lived on this road…
Farmers have silently struggled with their mental health for years. Are they ready to talk?
Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB), August 9, 2022, by Riley Bunch: Drew Echols doesn’t remember ever talking with his father about mental health. Or his grandfather. In fact, he doesn’t remember the last time he talked about his mental health at all. “We talked about work a whole lot more than…
It’s the most important part of addiction recovery — and often the most difficult to access
Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB), August 4, 2022, by Ellen Eldridge: Residents in rural South Georgia are adamantly fighting a zoning request — a faith-based nonprofit called Redeemed Living wants to build cabins for men in addiction recovery on 23 acres of local farmland. But the neighbors don’t want them living…
Why The Pandemic Took An Especially High Mental Health Toll On New Parents
KPCC, July 26, 2022, by Elly Yu: About six weeks after she gave birth to her son in the summer of 2020, Erin Sricharoon was driving to her local Starbucks in Yucaipa to get an iced chai latte when she had to pull over. “I had all these flashes of…
CARE Court Aims To Help People Living With Serious Mental Illnesses. Would It Bring New Solutions Or More Problems?
KPCC, July 20, 2022, by Robert Garrova: There’s a bill making its way through the state legislature that aims to create new avenues for people living with a serious mental illness to get life-saving treatment. The plan, first introduced by Governor Gavin Newsom in the spring, is called the Community…
For trans youth in North Texas, finding affirming mental health care can be a challenge
KERA, July 21, 2022, by Elena Rivera: Texas leaders have targeted trans youth, their families and gender-affirming care practices for months. It’s exacerbated feelings of anxiety and fear in trans youth, who already experience higher rates of depression, anxiety and suicide than their cis peers. Mental health practitioners can help…
Permanent funding solution elusive as mental health provider shortage plagues Arizona schools—and students
Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting (AZCIR), July 21, 2022, by Maria Polletta and Shaena Montanari: At times, seventh grade felt like one long string of panic attacks to Zoe Edelstein. The Phoenix student, who’d been living with anxiety and panic disorder since early elementary school, had started in-person at a…
Amidst a lack of mental health services, the ‘Living Room’ approach aims to plug gaps
Side Effects Public Media, July 13, 2022, by Carter Barrett: After a bad breakup, 19-year-old Benjamin Kowalczyk said everything felt like it was crumbling around him. He dropped out of college, and felt himself getting angry with his family. “I had fallen into a bad depression state,” said Kowalczyk, who…
Press Releases
The Carter Center Awards 9 U.S. Journalists Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism
The Center will train fellows on accurate and effective mental health reporting and provide access to mental health experts ATLANTA (July 14, 2022) — The Carter Center is pleased to announce nine U.S. recipients of the 2022-2023 Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism. The group includes freelancers, staff reporters,…
Apply for a 2022-2023 Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism in Latin America
Universidad de La Sabana, in partnership with The Carter Center, is now accepting applications for the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism for the 2022-2023 cycle. The program awards two fellowships to Latin American journalists who investigate and report on the state of mental health in this region. The…
Apply for a mental health journalism fellowship in the UAE
Rosalynn Carter fellowships are a year-long, non-residential program providing training, support and mentorship to two journalists The United Arab Emirates program for the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism is now accepting applications for its 2021-22 intake of two journalists. Interested candidates have until May 27 to apply. It…
Applications
Apply for a mental health journalism fellowship in the UAE
Rosalynn Carter fellowships are a year-long, non-residential program providing training, support and mentorship to two journalists The United Arab Emirates program for the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism is now accepting applications for its 2021-22 intake of two journalists. Interested candidates have until May 27 to apply. It…
Applications open for Latin American 2020-2021 Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism
The Carter Center and the University of La Sabana, in association with the Gabo Foundation, are now accepting 2020-2021 applications for the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism in Latin America. Bogotá, Colombia — Applications are now open for two fellowships for Latin American journalists who investigate and produce…
Applications open for UAE’s 2020-21 Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism
The fellowship program aims to develop a diverse cohort of journalists who effectively report on behavioral health. Applications will be accepted until the end of April. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism UAE program is accepting applications for its 2020-21 intake of two…
Topics
Resources For Journalists
Supporting Journalists Efforts In Mental Health Journalism
The Carter Center Journalism Resource Guide on Behavioral Health (pdf) supports journalists’ efforts to report accurately and effectively behavioral health issues, including addiction and substance use, in ways that do not reinforce stereotypes and stigma.