Changing the conversation about mental health through media
As the workday came to a close, Jim Kelly’s students trickled into their guesthouse from across the city of Kampala, Uganda.
When all were accounted for, the afternoon ritual commenced: a daily sharing of stories, problems, joys, and hardships of the day.
Some spent the day in underserved neighborhoods. Others in hospitals and orphanages. All witnessed trauma — they were reporting stories of Ugandans living with HIV/AIDS.
“Knowing how to interview and interact with people who have had traumatic experiences is important for being able to report completely and accurately,” said Kelly, who has traveled to Uganda and Kenya seven times since 2010 to teach the Media School course Reporting HIV/AIDS in Africa.
“One of the things that I teach students is that you have to worry about the second wound, which they’ve already been wounded, and your interview can produce a second wound.”
Media’s role in mental health and trauma — and teaching students how to use it for good — is emerging as an area of priority as The Media School reimagines its identity and launches its strategic planning process with partner Mapt Solutions. The process of making media can improve one’s mental health, said Dean David Tolchinsky, who emphasizes critical thought in how media portray mental health.
“I think what The Media School should be doing is not just modeling the professional world,” Tolchinsky said. “I think we should be turning out people who determine what the professional world looks like. If we turn out people who are incredible artists, writers, gamers, and scientists, but they are also being turned out to think about how we all interact with each other and how a better way of interacting could be, I’d be very happy.”
Early on, Tolchinsky met with the Student Advisory Council, which serves as the voice of the undergraduate student body to Media School administration and committees. At the meeting, students expressed that mental health was a key concern and wanted to discuss how the school can continue to facilitate conservations on the representation of mental health in the media.
After their conversation, Tolchinsky shared an article written by a dean at the University of Southern California that stated 18–22-year-olds struggle the most with loneliness. As the dean of an institution comprised of that age group, Tolchinsky feels that having open discussions about mental health is crucial.
Tolchinsky, whose father was a psychoanalyst, has always had an interest in exploring topics such as mental health, psychology, trauma, and memory contaminations as a filmmaker and playwright. His goals for the school’s future reflect how the media can influence how mental health is perceived.
In the fall semester, Tolchinsky is teaching a course on mental health and film and TV depictions, Writing Mental Health. He hopes to carry over ideas as the founding director of the Pritzker Pucker Studio Lab for the Promotion of Mental Health via Cinematic Arts at Northwestern University to The Media School. Tolchinsky pitched the idea of creating the program to the Pritzker Pucker Foundation to help media creatives think about mental health in a more nuanced way.
“That’s what I’d like to continue to do at IU. How do we put up a mental health depiction on screen and look at it from different perspectives, whether it be from the perspective of a therapist or a sociologist, an anthropologist, a psychiatrist, a filmmaker, a journalist or a communication scientist,” said Tolchinsky.
Furthermore, Tolchinsky has observed that issues of mental health and coping with trauma are also key areas of concern for the journalism faculty.
“Our journalism faculty have also said to me that as an industry, a lot of journalists are feeling trauma about the state of the industry. And then on a personal level, going out to interviews in a very fraught environment can be very traumatizing.”
Kelly, associate professor and former director of journalism at The Media School, specializes in trauma-informed journalism. One of Kelly’s signature courses takes students to East Africa to report on the HIV/AIDS epidemic where students interview individuals who have faced significant discrimination and stigma surrounding their HIV-positive status.
“So, one thing we’ve been talking about is how do we take care of our student journalists and make sure that they’re trained to be dealing with a fraught environment?” Tolchinsky said.
Kelly emphasizes the importance of journalists recognizing their own stressors when experiencing secondhand trauma to help maintain their mental health and report effectively. Through the DART Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University, Kelly participated in workshops where he collaborated with psychiatrists to learn about effective coping strategies, such as facilitating daily debriefs where students can have open discussions about their mental health.
There is still work to be done.
Media School professor Joan Hawkins has observed firsthand the potential impact resulting from a lack of mental health support. Hawkins has noticed that her more hands-on production courses give a better sense of community because her students have taken numerous core courses together. However, in the other courses Hawkins teaches, students are often very isolated.
Hawkins hopes to see more structural change that takes the burden off students who are dealing with mental health issues and trauma.
“One thing I think institutionally has to change would be not to rely so much on the students to be proactive when they’re already in a position where they cannot be,” said Hawkins.
One Media School initiative to help alleviate student stress and promote self-care is College Care Week. The College of Arts and Sciences transformed Dead Week to College Care Week in the fall 2021 semester. Director of Student Services Eliza Erxleben coordinates fun and relaxing activities that support students during especially stressful times as they prepare for their final exams each fall and spring semester.
Erxleben is eager to continue expanding events and collaborating with Tolchinsky on how to keep improving mental health support for students and faculty alike.
“I appreciate the emphasis on mental health that spans students, staff, and faculty. We need to take care of our mental health to take care of students.”
While it’s ultimately up to faculty, especially as The Media School community enters organized conversations with Mapt Solutions about possible directions for the school, Tolchinsky hopes an open conversation about mental health will be a continued focus. He also encourages Media School students to explore writing across media as well as new storytelling tools like XR technologies. Looking towards the future, Tolchinsky sees how The Media School has the potential to make real impact.
The SAC is now accepting applications for the 2024-2025 council until April 6 and students can register for Tolchinsky’s course by searching for MSCH-C 350 Writing Mental Health section 32812 in iGPS and the Enrollment Shopping Cart.