Mental Health in Journalism Pledge
Journalism is a demanding profession that often involves high-stress environments, exposure to traumatic events, physical and online threats, and intense pressure to meet tight deadlines, all amid ongoing uncertainty for how journalism is funded and supported.
Despite this, many journalists fear stigma and rarely feel comfortable openly discussing their mental health struggles in the workplace. We believe journalism is an essential pillar of a just and participatory society and that mental health should be a priority in newsrooms and media organizations.
By signing this pledge:
- We commit to fostering a culture that prioritizes mental health within the journalism community for our individual and collective care. We recognize the importance of mental well-being and will actively encourage our colleagues and organizations to invest in their mental health.
- We pledge to support journalists in accessing mental health resources and recognize that the direct cost of mental health care is a necessary and legitimate expense. This includes advocating for training, training materials, therapy, coaching, peer support, risk and resilience plans, and other mental health services as standard practice and a business priority in our newsrooms.
- We believe that prioritizing mental health is essential to journalistic excellence and integrity. A mentally healthy journalism community not only supports the well-being of individual journalists but also enhances the quality and impact of the stories we tell.
Para ver este compromiso en español, haz clic aquí.
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Meet the Pledge Signatories
Institutions
Individuals
- Robert Adiga, Uganda
- Laura Aguirre, El Salvador
- Patrícia Álvares, Brazil
- Fabiola Aponte, Colombia
- Edgar Alfonso Aroca Campo, Colombia
- Jesus Ayala, United States
- Irene Baños Ruiz, Spain
- Maria Bolevich, Croatia
- Marco Antonio Bravo Bedolla, Mexico
- Kim Brice, Netherlands
- Jaylen Burroughs, United States
- Mar Cabra, Spain
- Byron Fernando Bustamante Granda, Ecuador
- Ruth Marie Canahuati, Honduras
- Gema Cardiel, Mexico
- Lizzie Caron, Honduras
- Yannina Carrillo, Venezuela
- Chan-Seung Chung, South Korea
- Yadimir Crespo, Spain
- Marc Darriba Zaragoza, Spain
- Miguel Ángel De Alba, Mexico
- Nissandra Del Rio, Mexico
- Didier Demassosso, Cameroon
- Maedot Dinku, Ethiopia
- Martyna Dziakowicz, Poland
- Mona El Kayyal, Egypt
- Patricia Figueiredo, Brazil
- Romi Furst, Argentina
- Beth Francesco, United States
- Pampa García Molina, Spain
- Caroline Harrap, France
- Abdulrazaq Hassan, Ethiopia
- Susana Herrera Damas, Spain
- Homero Hinojosa, Mexico
- Bobby Hristova, Canada
- Sunday Igoche, Nigeria
- Hassan Issac Ahmed Hassan, Kenya
- Zahidul Islam Jobair, Bangladesh
- Runyambo Gasinzira Joseph, Congo
- Klaudia Lagozinski, Germany
- Alba Leal, Mexico
- Dr. Kortni Alston Lemon, United States
- Bárbara Lugo, Venezuela
- Javier Luque Martínez, Spain
- Vânia Maia, Portugal
- Osimbo Makuku, Kenya
- Mayber Márquez, Venezuela
- Natalia Martin Cantero, Belgium
- Katleho Joyce Matamane, Lesotho
- Manuel Mediavilla Herrera, Spain
- Maria Miret, Spain
- AX Mina, United States
- Paula Montañà, Spain
- Ramon Morales G, Mexico
- Silvia Muller, Spain
- Angur Nahar Monty, Bangladesh
- Shahnaz Munni, Bangladesh
- Abdullahi Muritala, Nigeria
- Sarwat Nadia, Bangladesh
- Vera Novais, Portugal
- Elisha Onyango, Kenya
- Merel Overloop, Belgium
- Rowena Paraan, Philippines
- April Pascual, Philippines
- Carmen Pereda, Spain
- Johanna Pisco, United Kingdom
- Samantha Ragland, United States
- Norihelys Ramos, Puerto Rico
- Amelie Reichmuth, Sweden
- Emily Ristow, United States
- Franziska Ritter, Germany
- Lina Sagaral Reyes, Philippines
- Halima Umar Saleh, Nigeria
- Francisco J. Sánchez, Mexico
- Aminata SANOU, Colombia
- José Felipe Sarmiento Abella, Burkina Faso
- Dave Seglins, Canada
- Letsatsi Selikoe, Lesotho
- Louba-heindé Séraphin Adoumngar, Chad
- Ulla Setswalo, Botswana
- Dhruti Shah, United Kingdom
- Shahnaz Sharmeen, Bangladesh
- Munima Sultana, Bangladesh
- Sarah Taillier, Australia
- Lisa Thalhamer, United States
- Emma Thomasson, Germany
- Bao Thy Tran Luong, Vietnam
- Zahra Uddin, Pakistan
- Sara Villegas Ramos, Mexico
- Alexandra Wake, Australia
- Devin Windelspecht, United States
11 other individuals have signed the pledge but preferred not to be named publicly.
The Self-Investigation team has verified all the signatory profiles before publishing them. This list will be updated on an ongoing basis.
If you want to get in touch with us please email contact@theselfinvestigation.com
About the Pledge
The Mental Health in Journalism Pledge has been developed by The Self-Investigation leading up to and during the inaugural Mental Health in Journalism Summit, hosted 8-10 October 2024 free and online with support from the Fred Foundation.
Over the course of a month, we conducted feedback calls and held open comment periods to ensure this pledge reflects the needs and realities of our community. We are immensely grateful to the many people and organizations around the world who generously offered their support, time, insights and copyedits during this time.
This pledge is part of a longer-term project at The Self-Investigation that aims to work with our community to establish a set of key principles that media organizations, independent journalists, and related entities can commit to, demonstrating their dedication to supporting mental health and well-being in journalism.
As of 10 October 2024, we have launched the pledge publicly on for public signature and sharing. We hope to collaborate with signatories to refine and expand the pledge into a detailed set of principles and guidelines in future iterations of this project.