Fellow Journos, have you thought of ways to serve your audience beyond the formal reporting that hits the feed/airwaves/newspaper?
Daily, we seek to empower, inform, find solutions, and foster conversation in our communities. But what about the interactions that never make it to a “byline?” All of those answered calls in the newsroom, texts, inbox messages, and face-to-face interactions out in the community could be missed opportunities to help our neighbors in a meaningful way, even when they don’t turn into stories. Can you recognize when to refer someone for help? How do you know which agency/organization could find their solution?
I’m so thankful to get to work with my longtime friend and former colleague Dr. Jasmine Cobb, LCSW-S on presenting a session for the 3rd annual Mental Health In Journalism Summit 2026.
Organized by The Self-Investigation, the four-day virtual event from October 6-9 featured keynotes, panels, case studies, workshops, and lightning talks with speakers from across the global journalism. This year’s theme, “Stronger Together: Building Systems of Care,” shifts the focus from individual coping mechanisms to structural and collective support in newsrooms.
As Dr. Cobb explained in Friday’s dialogue, Social Work Journalism is an emerging area of interdisciplinary scholarship and practice. So discussions, like this, help identify areas of shared purpose and strategies for practical collaboration.
We discussed possible opportunities for journalists reporting on mental health and other complex social issues, newsroom trainings, and development of local resource “toolkits” for journalists.
I’m really excited to see how this area of research evolves over time, especially given Dr. Cobb’s roots in local journalism!
The views expressed in this blog do not necessarily reflect the views of KLTV/KTRE-TV or Gray Media. They are solely the opinion of the author. All content © Copyright 2026 Lane Luckie
