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Yesterday morning, a young colleague told me he was worried about our staff -- especially the folks on our breaking news team who are at the tip of the spear of our coronavirus coverage.
Our newsroom is running & gunning, just like yours. This is our calling, this is our mission, to serve our community. But my colleague reminded me that if we're not careful, our relentless pace can come at a cost. Burnout, anxiety, physical & mental health issues.
And this is a story that affects all of us - we are all worried about our loved ones, our children, our parents, ourselves. Complicating matters is that we are practicing social distancing and working remotely. So the support of newsroom friends must come virtually, if at all.
I told my colleague that I would do some research to find resources and tips for self-care while covering trauma. I still have more work to do, but I've included some links at the bottom of this post.
One of the tips is that newsroom leaders need to be good listeners and also role models of self-care.
So I'll tell you that I go for a run every day, I cook and eat well, I listen to my favorite music, I try to get enough sleep, I limit my alcohol. Yoga has helped a lot, though I'm staying away from my YMCA and the yoga center for a while.
Still, I'm worried about my 84-year-old father, who is in grief after my mother's death. He's living in an assisted living center in Illinois. I just saw him last week, but now the facility has restricted visitors. I worry that if I travel & pick up the bug, I will infect my dad.
Last night, I was watching an old West Wing episode, the one where Josh is diagnosed with PTSD. There's a scene where the White House staff is watching Yo-Yo Ma perform the Bach Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major.
The music triggered something inside me. Suddenly my grief for my mother and my worries for my father and the immensity of the virus news overwhelmed me, and I cried as hard as I cried at my mother's bedside.
Over the next day, I called my siblings, and since I've started using Zoom, I could see their faces and listen to their voices, and just talking to them reassured me.
I'm sharing all of this because I want you to know that it's OK to be scared and anxious and sad and angry and exhausted at this time. Even a calm, stoic guy like me is feeling it. How can we not feel these things as human beings?
So take some time to reach out to others, and talk to your friends and loved ones, and be honest about how you're doing. And be well.
DART Center - Joe Hight on self-care amid disaster
https://dartcenter.org/content/self-care-amid-disaster
DART Center - Tips for managers and editors
https://dartcenter.org/content/tips-for-managers-and-editors-news-personnel-exposed-to-traumatic-events
DART Center - self-care practices and peer support https://dartcenter.org/content/editor-perspective-self-care-practices-and-peer-support-for-newsroom
https://dartcenter.org/content/self-care-amid-disaster
DART Center - Tips for managers and editors
https://dartcenter.org/content/tips-for-managers-and-editors-news-personnel-exposed-to-traumatic-events
DART Center - self-care practices and peer support https://dartcenter.org/content/editor-perspective-self-care-practices-and-peer-support-for-newsroom
Center for Health Journalism - for reporters covering stressful assignments, self-care is crucial
https://www.centerforhealthjournalism.org/resources/lessons/reporters-covering-stressful-assignments-self-care-crucial
Poynter - how journalists can take care of themselves
https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2019/how-journalists-can-take-care-of-themselves-while-covering-trauma/
Hannah Wise - caring for community and yourself https://journalists.org/2017/07/06/caring-for-community-and-yourself/
https://www.centerforhealthjournalism.org/resources/lessons/reporters-covering-stressful-assignments-self-care-crucial
Poynter - how journalists can take care of themselves
https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2019/how-journalists-can-take-care-of-themselves-while-covering-trauma/
Hannah Wise - caring for community and yourself https://journalists.org/2017/07/06/caring-for-community-and-yourself/
And my friends @atompkins and Rev. Sidney Tompkins just posted this @Poynter story and video on how journalists can fight stress from covering the coronavirus: https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2020/how-journalists-can-fight-stress-from-covering-the-coronavirus/
