With the news of Rosalynn Carter’s passing, KUOW wants to recognize her tremendous legacy and how her life directly impacted our newsroom, our audience and our coverage of mental health.
In recent years, two KUOW journalists have participated in the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism and Media: Deborah Wang (2018-19) and Liz Jones (2021-22).
Ms. Carter was a tireless advocate for mental health reform, and in our gratitude to her, we want to take a moment to highlight the local journalism she helped advance.
I Became One of Mrs. Carter’s “Guys” and It Changed My World —Deborah Wang of KUOW
I first met the late Rosalynn Carter in the fall of 2018, at a conference at the sprawling Carter Center in Atlanta. Ms. Carter, then 91, carefully guided the gathered crowd using a hiking pole instead of a cane. When she climbed the stairs to the podium, she stood up holding the arm of a Secret Service agent.
In the room was the brand new class of Rosalynn Carter, Mental Health Journalism Fellow. With her deep Southern accent, she charmingly called us “my guys.” We were journalists from the United States and abroad, coming to learn from the program’s mental health experts and journalism mentors. Of all the work the Carter Center did throughout the year – from promoting democracy to eradicating disease – this program, Ms. Carter told us, was her favorite.
It is the only Carter Center program named after Mrs. Carter.
We learned that Ms. Carter has been an advocate for people with mental illness since the 1970s, when, as Georgia’s first lady, she was moved by the plight of those struggling to access decent mental health care. At the Carter Center, the journalism fellowship was born out of its belief that responsible, sensitive and well-informed mental health journalism can help reduce stigma, reform systems and improve people’s lives.
I have spent a long career covering a variety of topics, but my reporting has very rarely touched on mental health. For me, mental health topics seemed complicated and a little intimidating. I grew up in a family and culture where mental health was not a priority. I felt like I didn’t have the understanding or even the language to do these stories justice.
That changed quite abruptly when the issue became personal. A family member experienced a serious mental health crisis and I realized how little I knew. I found it incredibly difficult to find helpful resources and access treatment. It surprised me that even I, a journalist accustomed to extracting information, could be so blocked in my search for solutions.
The fellowship was a key part of my mental health crash course. I spent the year listening and learning. I had at my disposal a distinguished group of professionals, some of whom had worked for decades with Ms. Carter on mental health advocacy. They have conducted training on best practices and provided guidance on the complexities that often arise when reporting on people with mental illness. My fellow “guys” have also been a great source of knowledge and support.
THE stories I produced My main goal was to answer the questions I had: Why is it so difficult for families in Washington state to help teens in crisis? We examined the history of the state’s unusual laws on the age of consent as well as in progress attempts by the legislature to change them. We told the story of a family dealing with the tragic suicide of their son and also profile of adolescents who worked on suicide prevention. We looked at why it is important to treat anxiety disorders in very young people.
For me, my fellowship year was transformative. It gave me some clarity on the complexities of reporting on mental health and it encouraged me to write and speak about these issues. Mrs. Carter’s name was a powerful calling card. Her long journey advocating for mental health has opened doors and, I think, convinced many people to share their very difficult stories with me. I have since joined the program’s advisory board and have had the pleasure of working with other talented journalists on their reporting projects. This whole experience has made me a better journalist and, I think, a better person.
I can’t say I knew Mrs. Carter, but I was fortunate to have the chance to sit in the same room and learn with and from her. She was an inspiration. During several days of meetings, filled with hours of discussions and presentations, the 91-year-old former first lady stayed in her seat, listening and taking notes. She organized lunches for us and posed for photos. She appeared at a fireside party with her husband Jimmy. On the last day, she admitted to being “a little tired.” But she said she couldn’t wait to see us again.
Diving Deep into Intergenerational Trauma —Liz Jones of KUOW
Like any good story, there are obvious turning points in a career. For me, my time as a Rosalynn Carter Journalism Fellow is one of them.
The fellowship provided me with the time, mentorship, and community needed to do a deep dive into early childhood adversity and the roots of intergenerational trauma.
With this reporting, it took a long time to build trust with social workers and families who would eventually share sensitive and complicated aspects of their lives. It took time to better understand the structural and social dynamics at play and to determine who most needs to hear this story and how to reach them.
This project has helped me ask better questions about how journalists approach covering mental health, as well as so many other complex social issues. The Rosalynn Carter Fellowship shifted my work in a lasting way and I am grateful.
The scholarship resulted in a three-part series, “Swim upstream”, a collection of stories that detail a Seattle-area family’s mental health-focused journey through the crisis.
When Mrs. Carter died, the Carter Center sent a message to a list of approximately 270 past and present fellows. What a powerful legacy of storytellers focusing their efforts on such an important topic that has the power to change so many lives.
