Feature writing can be a chore...

...especially when you are constantly battling press officers for a small smidgen of relevant information.

But I'm pleased to report I've had a particularly positive experience this last week whilst writing a feature for my health journalism class about mental health and workplace discrimination. I have found SHIFT, the Department of Health, Rethink, MIND, the Royal College of Psychologists and the Sainsbury Centre all helpful, thoughtful and prompt in their response, even though I was upfront about being a student journalist. I also had interviews with two members of staff at City University, Yasmin Fulder from the Clinical Psychology course and Professor Sally Hardy the newly appointed Head of Mental Health and Learning Disabilities. I will post the feature up here after it has been marked.

I was really glad to have had such a response from these new contacts, as I believe, as you may have noticed from the contents of this blog, that it's really important for health journalists to cover mental health issues. The current economic downturn means we are potentially facing a huge increase in the number of people suffering from a psychological condition. Seeing it written about could be the budge people need to seek the help they need.