Sky News producer and psychotherapist James Scurry: 'Journalists are a decade behind the latest knowledge about mental health'

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Today is World Mental Health Day, a chance for the media to look itself in the mirror and consider whether we are reporting on the topic as well as we could be.

Mental health is not only a broad term, but it is also a very delicate and complex one. As a result, news reporting can often be overly simplistic or downright inaccurate. That is according to our podcast guest, James Scurry, senior producer at Sky News, a qualified psychotherapist and co-founder of Safely Held Spaces, a non-profit mental health training organisation.

These days, a lot of mental health concepts are squeezed into a 60-second TikTok video that does not nearly give people an accurate picture. And the news does not do enough to hold this shoddy content to account and do a better job themselves.

It is not just the news or social media. Even the NHS figures on young people with mental health disorders cannot be taken at face value.

Stay tuned to learn about some of the big misconceptions, for example around schizophrenia and depression, so you can do these important topics justice in your reporting, not just for your general news audience, but those living with these conditions.

• Read more: 'My colleagues helped me through the hardest story of my career'

James Scurry is leading a workshop with Lisa Archibald, co-director of the Intentional Peer Support Network, on 27 November 2024 at our digital journalism conference Newsrewired in London.

This workshop will explore the mental health challenges facing the media – and how newsrooms can intervene meaningfully to help those who are struggling. Check out the full agenda and grab your ticket today

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