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Journalist who witnessed colleague’s death calls for openness on PTSD

Leona O'NeillA journalism trainer who witnessed a colleague’s death has called for an end to the taboo of journalists opening up about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Former Belfast Telegraph journalist Leona O’Neill is campaigning for newsrooms to do more to help recognise editorial staff suffering from PTSD after she saw the fatal shooting of fellow journalist Lyra McKee.

Leona, pictured, gave up her career in journalism after receiving sometimes hundreds of threats each day in the wake of the incident and now lectures at the University of Ulster.

She has written a book on journalists suffering from PTSD called Broken, for which she interviewed reporters who had been left traumatised by covering incidents including court cases and natural disasters.

Speaking to Women In Journalism, Leona said: “Many journalists face it but are ashamed to talk about it, often afraid that doing so could lead them to lose their jobs.

“The people in the book are talking about things like the tsunami in Indonesia or covering a murder case, the things that broke them and how they built themselves back together.

“I wanted to start a conversation, I wanted people to realise that journalism can be a really tough, but also a rewarding job, where you can help people and it’s OK to be impacted by something.

“You’re a completely normal human being if you are impacted and here’s help, here are other people, very well-known journalists talking about their own experiences so you’re not alone.”

In her own case, Leona saw a specialist who had understood how trauma could affect journalists and subsequently discovered colleagues had gone through similar experiences.

She said: “I was working until I was exhausted and did not want to stop and think.

“Some reporters drank too much, took prescriptions pills, or struggled with relationships, depression, anxiety. These are all kinds of traits you find with PTSD.”