The first comprehensive Dart Centre workshop in London on the organisational response to trauma in the media has emphatically endorsed the central importance of educating managers, and changing senior-level mindsets in the news and broadcasting business.

A half-day workshop at the new Frontline Club near Paddington on July 28 brought together some 30 senior managers, journalists and editors from organisations including NBC, the French news agency AFP, the Sunday Times and the BBC.

They were joined by representatives of the hostile environment training providers Pilgrims and Objective Team, together with several therapists, trauma specialists and providers of confidential counselling and trauma training in Britain.

Neil Greenberg of Britain's Royal Marines, who's developed a programme of Trauma Risk Management (TRiM) also now being introduced to Britain's Foreign Office and the BBC, spoke of the importance of internal cultural change in supporting staff exposed to trauma — and of individuals' natural human resilience that needs supporting.

Jim Alvarez of Clarity Advisors, provider of trauma training and support to the Reuters news agency, described his recent work with Reuters in Israel and the Occupied Territories where he found one in three experiencing symptoms of PTSD, two in three wanting treatment and everyone wanting training in stress management.

The Dart Centre's Mark Brayne described work at the BBC on changing culture, with new training courses for managers starting in September — with all three trainers agreeing on the need to pay attention particularly to depression, anxiety, alcohol and drug abuse as more common results of trauma experience than full-blown PTSD.

“The longer journalists work with trauma,” said Alvarez, “the more likely they are to report symptoms.”

Dr Greenberg noted the importance of good morale, and team support — and stressed the importance of practical support for physical safety, food and drink, hot showers, sleep, and contact with loved-ones, with psychological and specialist services available without stigma for the minority that needed them.

Participants included NBC's Human Resources manager in London Maria Marro-Pererra, the Sunday Times' Foreign Editor Sean Ryan, and senior personnel manager Robert Holloway of Agence France Presse in Paris, who all agreed that trauma support was a new area of activity of immediate and central importance to their organisations.

Among the main recommendations of the workshop's discussion groups were:

• The importance of changing workplace culture to remove all stigma associated with trauma, and of high-level managerial support, attitudes and training in trauma and trauma response;

• How important it is for the Dart Centre, and for this debate, not to focus solely, or too exclusively — as is easily done in the European journalistic context — on the trauma of war and conflict. Much other reporting involves trauma, including court reporting, accidents and domestic issues;

• The need for flexible approaches to trauma training and support in the framework of clear policy guidelines — with managers' job descriptions and appraisals to include the need for understanding, training and support for staff exposed to trauma;

• The value of training journalists and their teams in buddy support and simple trauma assessment skills, including how to identify when they or a colleague are having psychological difficulties — and what to do;

• The importance of an appropriate (and not too intrusive) counselling response available in the background;

• How essential it is to extend this awareness, training and discussion to

• training establishments

• freelancers

• local employees overseas

• families and friends

• and also to humanitarian agencies.

• The importance of having top managers individually championing this new agenda within their organisations, and making sure that training is compulsory and that opportunities to discuss traumatic experiences, while voluntary, are always made available.