Canada's news industry launches peer support program to boost journalist mental health Français
TORONTO, May 26, 2025 /CNW/ - Journalists and news professionals across Canada today are launching an industry-wide mental health support program to combat stress, burnout and trauma exposure.
Twenty volunteers were trained this month and are now officially open for business to offer confidential colleague-to-colleague help through the Canadian News Industry Peer Support (CNIPS) program, a pilot initiative of the Canadian Association of Journalists.
"Canadian journalists are experiencing unprecedented levels of pressure in their service of the public's right to know, whether it's because of online harassment, deadline pressures, vicarious trauma," said Brent Jolly, president of the CAJ
"The peer support program will offer colleagues a way to reach out, contact helping peers, and get help to work out problems, talk confidentially, and heal."
Formal peer support programs are being adopted by major news organizations around the globe, from Reuters, to BBC, to NPR and CBC, to combat work stress. CNIPS is a first-of-its-kind program in North America that brings together journalists and news professionals from across the industry. The first cohort of peer supporters, along with their contact emails are available at caj.ca/peersupport
The CNIPS program will hold an official launch celebration on Friday May 30 at 2 PM (MT) at the CAJ annual conference in Calgary.
"There's really nothing like a peer for understanding what you're going through, right?" said volunteer peer supporter Nasuna Stuart-Ulin, a freelance photojournalist from Montreal. "Being able to talk to people who understand a shared context is really invaluable and kind of rare. I'm really very excited to be part of - hopefully - creating a healthier industry."
CNIPS peer supporters include reporters, editors, producers, a podcaster, photojournalists, freelancers, host/anchor, from across the country who are available to assist any news industry professional. The program plans to expand to 100 trained volunteers by the end of 2026 to meet demand.
"The pressures and demands journalists face are often hard for those outside the industry to understand. We hope a peer support network – that importantly includes freelancers – will prove to be a valuable resource for those working in Canadian media," said Melissa Stasiuk, Head of Newsroom Development at the Globe and Mail which is one of the program's founding sponsors.
Dave Seglins, a CNIPS advisor who established a peer support network inside CBC/Radio-Canada in 2023 says there's a strong business case for the project.
"Peer support is a proven strategy used in other stressful industries such as policing, fire and emergency services used to debrief and talk through difficult job stressors," Seglins said.
"It helps to reduce absenteeism and conflict, and improves people's happiness, productivity and creativity in a news industry that so often is focused on tragedy and suffering." said Seglins.
Peer supporters are not clinicians. They are experienced colleagues trained to listen, have confidential conversations, and connect people to professional services where needed.
CNIPS FOUNDING SPONSORS INCLUDE:
The Globe and Mail
CBC/Radio-Canada
Unifor
Canadian Media Guild
The Canadian Press
Canadian Mental Health Association / BC Division
Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma
Carleton University School of Journalism and Communication
SOURCE Canadian Association of Journalists
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