Investigate. Verify. Protect.

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Welcome to the Sudan Digital Investigation Hub

Practical support for journalists working under pressure

This six-video course is designed for journalists and media workers operating in high-pressure and conflict-affected environments. It explores how sustained exposure to danger, distressing material and demanding workloads can affect both psychological wellbeing and the body.



Through short, practical lessons, the course introduces simple strategies to recognise warning signs, regulate acute stress, set professional boundaries and manage the cumulative effects of difficult reporting. It also addresses vicarious trauma and the additional pressures that women journalists may face, including harassment, digital abuse and gendered expectations.

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The course approaches psychological wellbeing as an integral part of professional safety and sustainable journalism. It encourages journalists to recognise when stress is becoming persistent, take early steps to protect their wellbeing, and seek appropriate support when distress begins to affect daily functioning.

Objectives
Safety Consideration
  • Understand how difficult assignments and exposure to distressing material can affect the body and nervous system.
  • Use simple grounding and emotional regulation techniques, including paced breathing, emotion labelling and the five-senses exercise.
  • Recognise vicarious trauma and use separation routines to reduce the cumulative impact of interviews, testimony and disturbing material.
  • Understand the additional gendered pressures faced by women journalists, including devaluation, harassment and digital abuse, and the role of colleagues and institutions in providing protection.
  • This course is educational and is not a substitute for individual mental health assessment, counselling or clinical care.
  • The course discusses war, violence, distressing reporting, harassment and digital abuse. Learners should be able to pause, skip or return to content if they feel overwhelmed.
  • Grounding and breathing exercises should only be used when it is physically safe to do so and must not distract from immediate security, evacuation or operational safety requirements.
  • Learners should not be required to disclose traumatic experiences in order to complete the course. Any personal disclosure should be voluntary and handled confidentially.
  • If stress or physical or emotional reactions persist and begin to affect sleep, work, relationships, sense of safety or daily functioning, learners should seek support from a trusted person and, where available, a qualified professional.
  • Individual coping strategies do not replace organisational duty of care. Threats, harassment and abuse, particularly those directed at women journalists, should be taken seriously and addressed through safe organisational procedures without blaming the person targeted.
  • If a learner is in immediate physical danger, immediate safety and appropriate local or organisational response should take priority over continuing the course.

Safety considerations

This platform is intended for journalists, researchers, and civil society actors engaging with content from complex and volatile information environments. At every stage, from verification to publication, assess your personal, digital, and source safety before proceeding. If any step significantly increases risk to you or others, pause and consult your organisation’s safety protocols. Careful judgement is essential to responsible investigative practice.
The Sudan Digital Investigation Hub was developed by the Thomson Foundation as part of the Sudan Digital Resilience Project funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).