Our latest Public Newsroom fostered conversation around generational trauma, alternative healing practices and how people of color talk about wellbeing. 

By Ellie Mejía

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COVID-19, national uprisings and an unprecedented upcoming election—to say it’s been a difficult year is probably an understatement. And for journalists, community advocates and anyone else exposing themselves to distressing stories of oppression, work can take a serious toll on mental health. 

That’s why photographers Samantha Cabrera Friend and Sebastián Hidalgo, both alumni of City Bureau’s civic reporting fellowship, pitched and organized last week’s Public Newsroom, which offered strategies for managing work and mental health. To share their own tips and tools, we were joined by:

  • Tiara DeGuzman, career coach, freelance writer and journaling advocate for healing and empowerment

  • Fiza Pirani, freelance writer, editor and founder of Foreign Bodies, an immigrant- and refugee-centered newsletter about mental health

Here’s what we learned:

1. Mental health is not binary, nor does it exist in a vacuum. 

Our mental wellbeing is shaped by a wide range of internal and external factors, including (but certainly not limited to) our social lives, physical health, our work, any oppression we might face and our cultural and personal assumptions about it. “I think the way we talk about mental health, where sometimes you are healthy and sometimes you are unhealthy—I don’t necessarily like that. I think there’s complexity in that,” explains DeGuzman. Instead of getting stuck in this black and white framework, our guests suggest that paying attention to your feelings on a regular basis can help you come to a more nuanced understanding of your own mental wellbeing. “To have good mental health is sometimes as simple as just making a note of how you’re feeling and what’s affecting it on a daily basis,” says Pirani, “Mental health is a spectrum.”

2. Trauma is intergenerational...

Your family’s attitudes toward mental wellbeing and health care can influence how you frame these issues as you grow up. Sometimes that leads people to adopt coping mechanisms that don’t resonate with or work for them. “Anytime I’d bring up [feeling sad] to my parents, their advice would be to go to mosque and pray. I always felt so lost because what my parents had always depended on, faith, wasn’t really working for me,” explains Pirani. “You feel guilty even talking about being sad like it’s a huge deal. To them, they’ve been through so many ups and downs.” 

3. ...but so is strength

At the same time, it’s important to recognize when older generations teach us their survival tools, and what context they are coming from. DeGuzman shared how her family always told her, “what happens in this house stays in this house,” and that they didn’t understand why she would need a private outlet like a journal to document her feelings. “But I understand the survival strategy around that,” she says. For her parents, keeping personal matters private was a way to protect her family of color within the predominantly white neighborhood where they lived.  “It’s easy to just go to that [idea of] self care tied to capitalism, like bath bombs and nail salons,” cautions DeGuzman, “but we have our own tools of resistance that we have used far longer than capitalism has existed.” 

4. Self-care is different for everyone.

There are a wide range of practices and routines that can help people manage their mental health and feel joy, but not all of them will work for everyone. When we asked our two guests what they do to manage their mental health, for example, Pirani mentioned disconnecting from social media, turning off devices, going for a walk alone, making room for quiet and helping others share their stories on Foreign Bodies. DeGuzman listed dancing, journaling, holding crystals and reading tarot. She describes the difference between her and Pirani’s self care tools as internal versus external processing, respectively. Even more suggestions came in from attendees: doing body scans, being part of a writing group and eating well are just a few that were mentioned.  

5. Trying to find healing strategies that will work for you? Think of home.

If you’re looking for new ways to find grounding, calm or joy, remember what brought you those feelings as a child. “For the people who are trying to figure out where they should find these strategies, first look at your home,” says DeGuzman. “Look at what worked and what did not work. That gives you the map of where you should go when it comes to your healing process.”

Feeling all caught up? Join us Thursday, October 1st for a special follow-up session, hosted in collaboration with Study Hall. Attendees will have a chance to connect and debrief on what they learned at the Public Newsroom. Register here. 

Watch a recording of the Public Newsroom below, or skip ahead for more resources and further reading:

Stay in touch

Therapy

  • Openpath database: an affordable way to locate $30-60 sliding scale therapy across the United States

  • The Family Institute of Northwestern University: a local Chicago resource for outwardly affordable, sliding scale therapists

  • Hello Alma on Instagram: “A community of mental health providers dedicated to simplifying access to care, in-person and online.”

  • Better Help: Affordable remote therapy

More

Shared by attendees:

Study Hall is a biweekly office hours session for alumni of City Bureau’s civic reporting fellowship.  

The Public Newsroom is City Bureau’s monthly digital workshop series where we discuss and deconstruct important local topics, and highlight grassroots efforts that meet information needs.

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