Journalists create mental health awareness

Three Qatar based journalists trained to write about mental health problems, have started to contribute their work in creating awareness about dealing with mental health issues.
Individuals living with mental health issues continue to be misunderstood, discriminated against, and stigmatised by society. In the Middle East, a perceived lack of societal support and understanding for mentally ill people means that those dealing with mental health issues often suffer in silence or refuse treatment.
Established in 1996 by Rosalynn Carter, the former First Lady of the United States, and administered by the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia, the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism programme provides expert training and support for journalists writing about mental health from around the world.
The four inaugural fellows have now completed their yearlong fellowships, during which they created a significant body of work in both English and Arabic across a range of media. Their stories have now been added to the more than 1,500 authored by fellows since the program began.
Over the past 12 months, journalists Aney Mathew, Tarek Bazley (of Al Jazeera English), Buthaina al Janahi (of Al Arab newspaper), and Kathy Hearn have written about a range of mental health-related topics, including dementia from a care-giving perspective, an integrated approach to autism, the progress Qatar has made in addressing mental health issues, and Qatar’s vision for mental health.
Those suffering from mental illness are frequently supported by family and friends who have to deal with the toll that caregiving can take on their own lives. This issue was tackled by Aney Mathew through the work she undertook during her fellowship year.
Meanwhile, Tarek Bazley, Al Jazeera English’s Science and Technology Editor, used his time during the fellowship to develop the media organisation’s international best practices for reporting mental health stories.