Psychological Safety Workshop 

We encourage all journalists, editors, and news managers to join this 90 minute, hands-on, workshop providing tools and techniques to strengthen psychological safety and build resilience. Guided by proven techniques for understanding and talking about emotional wellbeing, participants will learn evidence-based strategies for self-care to help prepare for and manage exposure to traumatic stress, graphic content, situations of anxiety and burnout, and assignments that may be emotionally difficult.

Leaders:

Gavin Rees, Senior Advisor for Training and Innovation, Global Center for Journalism and Trauma 

Dr. Lauren Walsh, Managing Director of Journalist Safety Initiatives, James W. Foley Legacy Foundation
Dr. Luisa Ortiz Pérez, Executive Director, Vita-Activa and Leader, Media Resilience Network 

LOCATION TBD

PERUGIA, IJF

In recent years, the United States has witnessed escalating incidents of political violence—from mass protests and armed demonstrations to targeted attacks on communities, institutions and political leadership. Photographers documenting these moments are not only recording history as it unfolds but are also shaping the public’s understanding of political unrest, polarization, and democracy itself. 
 
This panel brings together leading photojournalists to explore how images of political violence are made, circulated, and interpreted. Discussion will address the ethical challenges of photographing violent events, the risks faced by those behind the camera, and the impact these images have on public opinion, accountability, and collective memory. 

Panel discussion with:
Jabin Botsford: Washington, DC-based photojournalist
David Dee Delgado: Covering ICE/federal courts in NYC
Madison Swart: Freelance photojournalist struck by crowd-control munitions during the 2025 “No Kings” protests in LA

Moderated by:
Lauren Walsh: Professor, NYU

Register

Online webinar hosted by University of Vermont, Community News Service

Walsh will present basic safety approach for the contemporary US-based journalist

Stay tuned for link

A panel event to celebrate and discuss Ramón Campos Iriarte’s new book, La Trocha que no termina, focusing on the conflict and post-conflict situation in Cololmbia. The author/photographer is joined by Lourdes Dávila and Lauren Walsh, both professors at NYU.

Location TBA

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist Marcus Yam and Global Mental Health Expert Lauren Walsh Explore the Physical and Psychological Challenges Journalists Face Today

“Body and Mind in the Field: Safety for Photojournalists” offers a comprehensive look at how photographers can stay safe—physically and psychologically—while working in today’s unpredictable media landscape. From navigating hostile environments and protest zones to managing risks in everyday assignments, this workshop provides practical strategies for assessing threats, preparing equipment, and responding under pressure. Equally essential, this workshop addresses the invisible toll of the work: stress, trauma exposure, and burnout. Participants will learn to recognize early warning signs of emotional strain, build resilience through evidence-based coping tools, and create personal safety plans that protect both body and mind.

RSVP

Join AWP and Liz's Book Bar for an intimate conversation featuring 2023-24 Emerging Lens Fellow, Astrig Agopian.

Astrig will be in the U.S. on the occassion of her exhibition debut. The November 9 event will feature a presentation of Astrig's digital exhibition, and a conversation regarding her experience as an early-career conflict reporter and photojournalist. 

Astrig will be joined in conversation with Lauren Walsh, Professor at NYU; Founding Director of the Gallatin Photojournalism Intensive; and Managing Director of Journalist Safety Initiatives with the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation.

This event will take place from 7 - 9 p.m. at Liz's Book Bar located at 315 Smith Street, Brooklyn, NY. If you're in the Brooklyn area, we look forward to seeing you at the event. RSVP via email: info@artworksprojects.org

This online workshop dives into the heart of trauma-informed journalism, offering essential strategies to protect mental health in high-stress reporting environments. Designed for visual journalists, it addresses the emotional demands of working in today’s media landscape — while staying grounded and ethical.

From assignment planning through post-publication, we’ll explore how to better care for ourselves and protect the people whose stories we tell, through sharing actionable tools and practices for emotional resilience, source care, and building professional and personal habits that prioritize both safety and compassion.

registration required: This workshop dives into the heart of trauma-informed journalism, offering essential strategies to protect mental health in high-stress reporting environments. Designed for visual journalists, it addresses the emotional demands of working in today’s media landscape — while staying grounded and ethical.

From assignment planning through post-publication, we’ll explore how to better care for ourselves and protect the people whose stories we tell, through sharing actionable tools and practices for emotional resilience, source care, and building professional and personal habits that prioritize both safety and compassion.

Sponsored by Catchlight and Committee to Protect Journalists

Following the screening of Armed Only With A Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud, please join for a panel discussion.

Journalists aren’t just telling the story—they’re living through it, whether under fire in war zones or documenting ICE detentions at home. The emotional toll can be crushing, yet it’s rarely part of the public conversation. This panel pulls back the curtain on what it means to carry trauma while still chasing truth. This matters because journalists’ wellbeing directly shapes the depth, accuracy, and humanity of the stories we all rely on.

Panelists: Lauren Walsh and Juan Arredondo

Moderator: Tom Durkin

https://www.dctvny.org/s/firehouse-film/armed-only-with-a-camera-the-life-and-death-of-brent-renaud-MCGV2PWI7PA5HE7BVMHHMQEETLRU

AMEJA members, please join on Thursday, August 28, for a webinar co-hosted with CPJ, focused on practical, evidence-based strategies for supporting journalists’ mental health and wellbeing.

Journalists are routinely facing intense pressures as they work on covering traumatic events while racing to meet deadlines. In this day and age, those added pressures, along with a tough media landscape and mischaracterizations of ethnic backgrounds in the newsroom, could take a real toll on you. Let’s address this.

Led by Walsh, sponsored by CPJ and AMEJA.

By registration.

Dr. Walsh delivers on talk on the ongoing full-scale invasion, how it has been recorded by photographers, what this means for the record of history, and how this war will be remembered.

This talk is part of the KUMA summer insttitute.

“Photographs are not Passive Reflections of Reality” 

Dr Lauren Walsh looks back through some of the visuals that have dominated the World Press Photo archive as well as in a broad collective understanding of history. What is a visual trope? Why and how does this question matter to us? In this talk, Walsh addresses the role that photographs play in shaping our understanding of the world.

https://www.worldpressphoto.org/lauren-walsh

Mass violence did not always have a name. Like conquest, what we think of now as atrocities have not always invited indignation or been seen to violate moral norms. Venturing from the Bible to Zadie Smith, Robbins explores the literature of suffering, to show how, over time, abhorrence of mass violence takes shape. With it comes the emergence of a necessary element of cosmopolitanism: the ability to look at one's own nation with the critical eyes of a stranger.

At Columbia University

Details here

Walsh delivers a talk on two nationwide surveys she designed for the current Ukrainian landscape: one assessed mental health needs for Ukrainian media workers operating during the current full-scale invasion; the other assessed the news consuming public’s responses to media coverage, examining if/how coverage of war correlates to collective stress, fatigue, anxiety and more.

CONFERENCE CANCELED

Walsh has curated a photography show, “Thandiwe Muriu: I Am Because We Are,” the first US solo exhibition for Kenyan artist Muriu.

Please join for a panel discussion and reception.

Feb 12, 6pm at NYU Gallatin Galleries

Walsh led a conversation about psychological resilience for Ukrainian media workers.

Walsh spoke about the impact of and challenges faced by Palestinian photographers in Gaza

ARIJ 17th annual forum, Jordan

Has your work ever made you feel anxious, burned out, depressed, or worse? It is not uncommon for photojournalists, due to the unique nature of their work, to experience episodes of psychological distress. This panel of experts opens the conversation about issues that affect many but which are little discussed. Topics include risk mitigation, emotional safety, trauma-informed work, and ethical care toward the sources in your photos. Moderator-speaker Dr. Lauren Walsh is accompanied by speakers Tara Pixley and Judy Walgren. All three specialists will address topics of interest to EAW participants and welcome questions and conversation on this timely, important topic.

Following a performance of Vladimir, join for a discussion on threats against the press with Dr. Lauren Walsh, Jane Ferguson, Anna Nemtsova and Bonita Sostre.

This haunting world premiere unfolds in Moscow, where an independent journalist covering Putin’s first term struggles to maintain sanity and hope in increasingly hostile circumstances. She finds herself on the brink of an explosive story — but as danger mounts for her and her sources, she questions whether her bravery will make any difference at all. Written by Erika Sheffer, VLADIMIR is about standing up to immorality no matter the cost, when you know your nation is headed for disaster. Directed by Tony Award winner Daniel Sullivan.

Join a panel of experts to learn about how to pitch your photography work for publication. The event is geared to college students and emerging professionals.

B&H store, event space on 2nd floor, NYC

NYU Gallatin Galleries examines the ongoing attacks on democracies in five countries around the world in the exhibition, The End of Democracy in Five Acts, running September 9–October 14, 2024, and featuring 86 photographs and five essays by experts. Curated by the Gallatin School of Individualized Study professors Keith Miller and Dr. Lauren Walsh, the exhibition showcases the work of five photojournalists who have documented recent political events in El Salvador, Kenya, Poland, the Philippines, and India to show how legal efforts, including the courts, police, and surveillance technology, are used to undermine or dismantle democratic processes.

Miller and Walsh chose to highlight countries from four continents to emphasize the global nature of the issue. The images show how law enforcement and legal efforts–rather than non-constitutional processes such as military coups–are employed to undermine the legitimacy of elections and related democratic rights.

This 3-day, hands-on workshop involves lectures by Walsh, photography assignments, photo critiques, and discussion of ethics, human rights, and photojournalism. June 23, 24, & 29.

Dr. Walsh explores the value of the camera in bringing us the world in pictures. Speaking about two of her recent books, ‘Conversations on Conflict Photography’ and ‘Through the Lens: The Pandemic and Black Lives Matter,’ Walsh addresses: what it means to cover conflict and crisis, risks and threats against the media, the merits of photojournalism, and the role of the public in consuming imagery. This talk is open to the public and will appeal to anyone interested in photography, current events, politics, and journalism.

This presentation for communications faculty introduces the complicated topics of media and visual literacy, especially in a constantly changing contemporary digital environment. Participants are invited to take part in interactive discussion with Dr. Walsh, who will offer hands-on models for thinking about and assessing one’s media/visual literacy. Participants are encouraged to contribute thoughts and questions.

This talk explores ethical concerns attendant to the work of photojournalism, as well as broader risks and challenges that many journalists face, whether in Bangladesh or elsewhere. Dr. Walsh provides a context that considers a global media ecosystem. This seminar offers significant application for journalists of all fields. The talk is followed by a Q and A.

This workshop for educators in photography focuses on best practices and pedagogic design.

Hosted by Pathshala South Asian Media Institute and the U.S. Fulbright Specialist Program