Resources For Journalists
Language guide for reporting on mental health
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.
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The Carter Center's mental health journalism fellows have been reporting on the mental health impact of COVID-19. You’ll find here their reporting, mental health resources for journalists covering the pandemic and for the general public impacted by the virus.
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Search Rosalynn Carter Fellows past and present and browse their fellowship projects.
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Find training opportunities, key mental health organizations & centers, governmental resources, important publications, and more.
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Over the past two decades, more than 220 journalists from New Zealand, Romania, South Africa, and current participating countries have been awarded the highly-competitive fellowships.
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Under the leadership of former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, a longtime champion for the rights of people with mental illnesses, the Carter Center's Mental Health Program works to promote awareness about mental health issues, inform public policy, achieve equity for mental health care comparable to other health care, and reduce stigma and discrimination against those with mental illnesses.
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From the National Child Traumatic Stress Network
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A journalist’s guide on what to write — and what not to — when covering child abuse
After researching studies on secondary victimization and news coverage of child abuse, and with input from child advocates, social workers and journalists, former journalist Sarah Welliver developed the Journalist’s Guide to Reporting on Child Abuse. Here are a few of the key takeaways.
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Reveal identified at least 300 treatment facilities in 44 states that required participants to work without pay or for pennies on the dollar, in likely violation of federal labor law. Look up work-based programs in your state.
Fellowship News

Overwhelmed with mental health calls, six rural sheriffs make their own plan for better response
Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) by Sofi Gratas, September 13, 2023: Eurie Martin, 58, was walking alone on a rural two lane road in Washington County in 2017, when three deputies from the county sheriff’s office encountered him, responding to a suspicious person call. They didn’t know Martin had a history…

Cover-up Alleged in Pottawatomie County Jail Deaths
Oklahoma Watch, by Whitney Bryen, September 6, 2023: Pottawatomie County jail officials apparently defied state laws and a judge’s order when they concealed information on the unexplained deaths of seven vulnerable detainees. All seven people arrived at the jail with medical and mental health or substance use complications that required…

This Harris County program serves the most vulnerable. But it won’t bail them out of jail.
Houston Landing, by Alex Stuckey and Marie D. De Jesús: This story is the third in a broader series, “Deadly Detention,” investigating jails across Texas. You can read the first story here and the second here. When a Houston police officer arrived at Richelle Morris’ group home in a quiet…