Language Guide for Reporting on Mental Health
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Meet the 2019-2020 Fellows
Amanda Miller Littlejohn
Amanda Miller Littlejohn has more than 18 years of journalism, public relations, and coaching experience. As the founder…
Rainesford Stauffer
Rainesford Stauffer is a freelance writer and reporter. She writes Teen Vogue’s Work in Progress column, and her…
Angela Chen
Angela Chen is the morning and noon news anchor at KESQ News Channel 3, the ABC/CBS station…
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the purpose of the fellowship?
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
How are fellows announced or notified?
Where can I find samples of previous fellowship projects?
Where can I find out about the fellowships in New Zealand, Romania or South Africa?
Recently
Some Oklahoma parents turn kids over to the state after struggling to get mental health care for them
From The Frontier
Tucked between a highway and railroad tracks just east of Tulsa’s downtown, the county’s only emergency youth shelter acts as a temporary home for some teenagers who have been abandoned by their parents and have nowhere else to go.
Lack of oversight, coordination hinder efforts to reform Arizona’s rise in maternal mortality
From the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting
In 2019, federal officials dedicated more than $2 million to Arizona’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee as part of a national effort to confront alarmingly high rates of maternal deaths. The funding came with a mandate: Strengthen Arizona’s process for analyzing the cases of women who die during and shortly after pregnancy, and find ways to prevent future casualties.
‘Not knowing where to go’: Montana’s sparse landscape for alcohol detox
From Montana Free Press
Thirty-three-year-old Whitefish resident Melanie Seefeldt has decided to stop drinking before. But, like many Montanans, Seefeldt knows a core truth about alcohol addiction. Wanting to stop is the easy part.
Gaps in mental health training, rural access to care compound Arizona’s maternal mortality crisis
From Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting
Within hours of giving birth to her first child, Araceli Aquino-Valdez was engulfed by an intense sadness. She sobbed for days after arriving home, grieving the loss of her life before motherhood and feeling dismissed by her care providers.
Black farmers face specific, outsized challenges in rural mental health crisis
From NPR affiliate KOSU
Oklahoma State Highway 7 runs by the Mary T. Tatums Municipal Building in one of Oklahoma’s historic All-Black towns, Tatums.
Bonnie Hooks sits with her neighbors at one of the round tables inside the building. Like her grandmother, Hooks is a farmer in Tatums, where she raises pigs.
Arizona cracked down on Medicaid fraud that targeted Native Americans. It left patients without care.
From the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting
Before her fifth birthday, Rainy had experienced a lifetime of trauma. As an infant, she witnessed violence at home before child welfare authorities intervened and her parents were incarcerated. Night terrors followed. Then, she endured the death of her great uncle who had taken on the role of dad.
The Carter Center Awards Two Non-U.S. Journalists New Climate Change Mental Health Fellowships
Aug. 2, 2024 ATLANTA — The Carter Center has awarded two journalists a new fellowship as part of the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism. This new fellowship, a shared initiative of the Carter Center Human Rights and Mental Health programs, supports journalists’ efforts to explore the impacts of…
Despite efforts to close gap, parity in mental health care remains elusive
From The Center for Public Integrity
In recent years, mental health care has become a mainstream issue.
President Biden proposed an expansion of services nationwide. Lawmakers and celebrities speak openly about their struggles. States are providing incentives to expand the behavioral health workforce. Companies are recognizing the need for mental health leave. Telehealth care is rapidly expanding.
You Report an Unhoused Person in a Mental Health Crisis. This Is What Happens Next
From the San Francisco Public Press
In San Francisco, it is not uncommon to cross paths with a person experiencing homelessness in the throes of a mental health crisis. The scene can be tragic, confusing and sometimes might feel dangerous.
Bystanders might wonder how to summon help from the city — and what will happen if they do.
The Often Vicious Cycle Through SF’s Strained Mental Health Care and Detention System
From the San Francisco Public Press
On a windy day last fall, a slender man stood on a corner of the bustling intersection at Van Ness Avenue and Market Street, anxiously seeking help. He flagged us down, asking that we call an ambulance. He said the dead leaves on the ground were out to hurt him and that his legs were bleeding. We didn’t see any blood. He told us his name was Jay and that he was unhoused.
Deadly Failure: A Sailor Was in Crisis. Her Command Kept the Pressure on Anyway
From the Voice of San Diego
March 6, 2018, was another mild and sunny day in San Diego. Petty Officer 2nd Class Tiara Gray, who was 21 years old, was somewhere off the coast, onboard the USS Essex, writing in her journal. It was 27 days before she died.
She called the number on her syllabus offering counseling. No one picked up.
From the WBEZ
Isabelle Dizon describes her transition to college as “messy.” She went from a public high school to a private art school that was far less diverse and cost too much, she said. The expense was stressful and she couldn’t connect with her new classmates, most of whom were more well off. Navigating the social scene over Zoom and from behind masks at the height of the pandemic made her feel even more disconnected.
High need, low accessibility: Oglethorpe County residents face barriers to mental health care, even as teens and schools are willing to have the conversation
From The Oglethorpe Echo/the Cox Institute’s Journalism Writing Lab at the University of Georgia
Sonja Thompson Roach remembers the moment last year when a photographer took photos and interviewed her son and his friends for a Time magazine story on mental health and teens.
The photo and interview shoot in her Northeast Georgia home required absolute quiet for the audio and the right time of day for the lighting.
For many Black sickle cell patients, care must reach deeper
From The Daily Memphian
In Memphis, Black patients with an inherited blood disorder carry trauma from the dismissal of their chronic pain and severity of symptoms.
“Sickle cell is a very aggressive, traumatizing and difficult disease to live with,” said April Ward-McGrory, 42, a lifelong resident of this city on the Mississippi River in southwest Tennessee.
State leaders misled public about scope of Medicaid fraud crisis
From the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting
In the 10 months since Arizona officials announced an investigation into massive Medicaid billing fraud, they’ve maintained the abuse was mostly limited to a small share of the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System: behavioral health providers that exploited the agency’s fee-for-service plans.
Mental health issues complicate treatment for sickle cell patients
From The Daily Memphian
April Ward-McGrory is a sickle cell patient, double amputee and advocate for those living with sickle cell disease.Black patients in Memphis with sickle cell disease often report being misdiagnosed or treated as drug seekers when they show up in emergency rooms during pain crises.
When children are rushed to the hospital in Memphis, trauma counselors are there waiting for them
From The Institute for Public Service Reporting
An errant bullet fired from a street in South Memphis last year hit 16-year-old Evan sitting inside his home watching TV. The bullet tore a hole through his arm and leg.
Instantly, before anyone could call 911 — even before the teenager was fully aware of what had happened — first responders in his brain and body rushed into action.
Oklahoma sends a growing number of kids with complex needs out of state for treatment
From The Frontier
Amber Boyer spent early mornings last spring crawling out of her bedroom window and into her garage to make breakfast and gather medications for her then 14-year-old son Davin.
Poor access to mental health care leaves Georgia children who need a psychiatrist in the lurch
From Georgia Public Broadcasting
When Layken Edenfield was little, her moods would switch quickly, her mother, Teresa Edenfield remembers.
“One minute she’d be happy and laughing, and the next minute she’d be crying her eyes out,” Edenfield said. “She was really hypersensitive about certain things around, or really terrified.”
Arizona’s anti-immigrant policies foster a culture of fear and create barriers to mental health care for undocumented communities
From Cronkite News
Ileana Salinas has to renew her immigration status this year. If she misses the deadline or doesn’t get approved, she doesn’t know what will happen to her job, her family, or her life in the United States. Living each day in survival mode has taken a toll on her mental health, and the ever-changing slew of immigration policies are compounding the problem.
Press Releases
The Carter Center Awards Two Irish 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 21, 2023) — The Carter Center is pleased to announce that Órla Ryan of The Journal, working with its investigative platform Noteworthy, and Shauna Bowers of The Irish Times…
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 12, 2023) — The Carter Center is pleased to announce nine U.S. recipients of the 2023-2024 Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism. The group includes award-winning freelancers, staff…
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,…
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.