Carter Center Awards 2005-2006 Mental Health Fellowships

ATLANTA.....The Carter Center Mental Health Program has named 10 recipients of its ninth annual Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism, including two from New Zealand and two from southern Africa. Each domestic fellow will receive $10,000 to study and report on a particular issue within the mental health field for one year. International fellows will receive a comparable stipend.

The fellows will convene in Atlanta at The Carter Center on Sept. 19-21, 2005, to meet with former U.S. First Lady Rosalynn Carter, the Center's Mental Health Task Force, and the Journalism Fellowship Advisory Board to discuss planned topics of study. In the past, fellows have published in-depth articles, produced radio and television documentaries, and written books. Their projects have garnered awards from the National Mental Health Association, the American Psychological Association, and Amnesty International, as well as Emmy award nominations and two nominations for the Pulitzer Prize.

The fellowships are part of an international effort by the Carter Center Mental Health Program to reduce stigma against people with mental illnesses and decrease incorrect and stereotypical information.

"Informed journalists can have a significant impact on public understanding of mental health issues, as they shape debate and trends with the words and pictures they convey," Mrs. Carter said. "They influence their peers and stimulate discussion among the general public, and an informed public can reduce stigma and discrimination."

The recipients are:

Karen Brown
Reporter
WFCR-FM
Northampton, Mass., USA

Topic: Produce a radio documentary on the effects of mental illnesses on siblings, from growing up with a brother or sister with a mental illness to forging relationships as an adult.

Julianne Hill
Writer/Producer
Worldwide Skur, Inc.
Chicago, Ill., USA

Topic: Examine the work in Chicago to reduce the stigma and challenges facing individuals with mental illnesses through a series of television news pieces. Topics will include care for refugees with mental disorders, services available for the homeless, and medical explanations and solutions for serious mental illnesses.

Ingrid Leary
Freelance Reporter and Producer
TV3 News
Auckland, New Zealand

Topic: Research, write, produce, and direct a series of news features on living with mental illnesses in New Zealand and neighboring Pacific countries.

Shandukani Mathagu
Freelance Journalist
Sibasa, South Africa

Topic: Explore the impact of Tshivenda communicative expressions on mental illnesses in the Vhembe area of the Limpopo province of South Africa through a series of radio interviews.

Encarnacion Pyle
Reporter
The Columbus Dispatch
Columbus, Ohio, USA

Topic: Write about two people in Central Ohio - one with Parkinson's disease and another with schizophrenia - and the differences in discrimination and stigma that each faces.

Marion Scher
Freelance Journalist
Johannesburg, South Africa

Topic: Compare the stigma attached to mental illnesses in both rural and urban areas and black and white communities in South Africa.

Phil Smith
Executive Producer Spoken Features
Radio New Zealand
Wellington, New Zealand

Topic: Explore the political, media, and social factors contributing to the popular fallacy that people with mental illnesses are dangerous and violent. Investigate the impact of public fear on people experiencing mental illnesses and on health care practice, particularly within New Zealand prisons.

Michelle Trudeau
Contributing Correspondent
National Public Radio
Irvine, Calif., USA

Topic: Produce a series of radio stories on the psychological welfare of immigrant children and adolescents, with an emphasis on longitudinal studies that have tracked their social, emotional, and psychological development.

Rob Waters
Freelance Journalist
Berkeley, Calif., USA

Topic: Write a series of articles on the mental health needs and problems of children in foster care and the creative efforts that leaders around the country are making to address them.

Leigh Woosley
Reporter
Tulsa World
Tulsa, Okla., USA

Topic: In a series of articles, profile adults who function within the workplace and social settings, despite living with anxiety disorders.

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The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, in partnership with Emory University, to advance peace and health worldwide. A not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization, the Center has helped to improve life for people in more than 65 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; improving mental health care; and teaching farmers to increase crop production. Please visit www.cartercenter.org to learn more about The Carter Center.