Journalists, newsroom leaders, mental health professionals, researchers and media development organizations from around the world will convene online from October 6 to 9, 2026, for the Mental Health in Journalism Summit 2026, a global event dedicated to advancing mental well-being and building more supportive and sustainable newsroom cultures.
Organized by The Self-Investigation, an organisation registered as a nonprofit foundation in the Netherlands but which operates globally with a mandate to help organisations create safe, healthy work environments that sustain performance, the event is co-funded by the Fred Foundation, a charitable organization founded in 1996 by Fred Matser, a Dutch property developer and philanthropist, that supports social initiatives dedicated to living life in harmony.
The four-day summit will be held under the theme “Stronger Together: Building Systems of Care”, shifting the conversation from individual resilience to creating organizational structures that better support journalists facing the growing psychological demands of their profession.
According to the organizers, the summit seeks to foster “an open, collaborative, and global conversation about what care looks like when it’s built into the structures of our journalism work.”
Rather than focusing solely on how individual journalists cope with stress, the event will explore how news organizations, professional associations and the wider journalism ecosystem can embed mental health and well-being into newsroom policies, leadership practices and organizational culture.
The summit will take place in the context of a worldwide reality in which journalists are increasingly confronting multiple pressures, including exposure to traumatic events, conflict reporting, online harassment, economic insecurity, shrinking newsrooms, rapid technological change and the growing impact of artificial intelligence on journalistic work.
Such challenges have heightened concerns about burnout, anxiety, moral injury and other mental health issues affecting media professionals.
The 2026 edition marks the third Mental Health in Journalism Summit and will be conducted entirely online to maximize global participation.
The programme has been designed in two parts. The first two days, October 6 and 7, will feature participatory sessions and practical workshops tailored for editors, newsroom managers, human resources professionals and other specialized groups, with attendance by invitation or advance registration.
The public programme, scheduled for October 8 and 9, will include keynote addresses, panel discussions, case studies and lightning talks open to registered participants worldwide.
The summit programme is being co-created with the global journalism community following an open call for participation that invited journalists, freelancers, media executives, researchers, mental health practitioners, media freedom advocates, labour representatives and funders to propose sessions and share experiences.
Organizers said they want to particularly encourage contributions from practitioners working in complex environments and from the Global South.
Among the key themes to be explored are mental health as a foundational element of press freedom, building systems of care within journalism, collaborative approaches to newsroom well-being, and developing practical strategies that help journalists thrive while continuing to serve the public interest.
The summit is evidence of the growing recognition of journalists’ mental health as a press freedom issue and reflects increasing efforts across the journalism sector to place mental well-being higher on the professional agenda.
At the 2026 International Journalism Festival, Europe’s biggest annual media event, which took place from April 15 to 18 in Perugia, Italy, experts argued that burnout, trauma and moral injury can amount to a form of “silent censorship,” limiting journalists’ ability to continue reporting and weakening the media’s role in democratic societies.
Organizers say the summit aims not only to raise awareness but also to generate practical solutions, strengthen peer networks and encourage media organizations to adopt sustainable approaches that integrate care into the everyday practice of journalism.
