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UK-based Headlines Network took shape in 2021 to provide resources around journalism-related mental health, digital well-being, and safety to journalists. But the organization’s work is based on decades of experience from their directors — and an even longer history of asking important questions about the issues that matter to everyone.

“The ability to soak up pressure for a journalist was seen as an integral part of the DNA, and newsrooms are quite macho, quite tough,” explains John Crowley, Co-director of Headlines Network. “There's a lot of taboo around talking about your mental health in journalism.”

As a journalist, John had faced burnout, while Founder and Co-director Hannah Storm experienced post-traumatic stress disorder following multiple incidents in her journalism career. Hannah’s experiences contributed to her determination to tackle some of the challenges associated with digital safety and mental health in newsrooms.

The two repeatedly met on industry panels about mental health during the pandemic and realized there were few tangible mental health resources for journalists. They spent the summer of 2021 building a website and workshop plan for Headlines Network.

The goal of the pilot effort was to spark conversations around mental health and provide journalists and newsroom leaders with actionable insights, but the enormity of the task meant Storm and Crowley would need some help. “We both passionately believe in the idea of collaboration,” says Storm. “It’s just too big of an issue for us to solve by ourselves.”

They turned to Matt Cooke, a former journalist who leads a team within the Google News Initiative (GNI), and shared their passion for the cause. With funding from GNI, Headlines Network hit the ground running in late 2021 with 16 virtual training sessions over four weeks, broken into cohorts of new journalists, new managers, mid-career journalists, and senior newsroom leaders.

A range of resources followed, with text documents and subtitled videos informed by experts on topics such as managing mental health, supporting colleagues, vicarious trauma, and covering traumatic breaking news. Thanks to the funding from GNI, independent workshops, and resources are available to news organizations free of charge.

To date, more than 300 journalists have attended Headlines Network’s workshops, while there have been more than 5,000 streams of their podcast, “Behind the Headlines with Headlines Network.” Each episode features a veteran journalist discussing their mental health and journalism work. Meanwhile, partnerships with UK mental health organizations, like Mind, have further amplified their message.

Next in the pipeline for Headlines Network is a series on workplace burnout. Recognizing that an investment in mental health is an investment in the success of the news industry as a whole, they will develop further resources in partnership with GNI.

Speaking on their shared commitment, Storm says: “It's clear that the relationship with GNI is not just about funding us for two years, but it's about getting us to that next stage where we can really help ourselves become sustainable [and] also help the mental health conversation in newsrooms become sustainable.”