Reporting on suicide, mental illnesses, and substance use disorders can be daunting. But these topics are crucially important — and it's important for journalists to report with accuracy, empathy, and care. This certificate course provides an overview of suicide and mental health reporting best practices and introduces techniques and tools for self-care.

This course, developed by the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities in collaboration with The Carter Center, benefits from the extensive experience of The Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism and the expertise of seasoned professional journalists.

Total time to complete this course is approximately 75 minutes. Each section will take approximately 10 minutes. You can take the course all at once or section by section.

Once you have completed all of the sections, you must score 80% on the assessment to receive the certificate.

After completing this course, you will be able to:

Recognize the media's role in responsibly reporting on suicide.

Explain why accurately reporting about suicide is important.
Identify factors that contribute to responsible reporting on suicide.
Discuss the importance of highlighting hope and recovery in suicide reporting.
Recognize the importance of using correct images and wording.
Incorporate messages about the 988 Lifeline in all stories that reference suicide.
Recognize the importance of self-care.
Identify methods of self-care.