For any media and/or press enquiries, please contact our Head of Communications & Membership, Amy Wells, at amy.wells@nsun.org.uk. If you are looking for us to connect you with people in our network, please first read the information below.
As a network of people with lived experience of mental ill-health, distress and trauma, we often get requests from journalists and other media professionals looking to speak to people in our membership (network) with specific and often painful or traumatic lived experiences. This page sets out our approach to these types of requests (this is distinct from media representatives approaching NSUN to provide organisational comments).
We may sometimes connect journalists or media representatives with individuals or a group in our network by sharing a callout with the network (primarily through our weekly bulletin to members) which will ask people to contact the journalist if they are willing to speak to them about a specific topic. However, for us to do so, we will first want to understand more from the journalist about how the piece resulting from the engagement will be meaningful, and how the engagement itself will be handled with respect and sensitivity.
This is because we know that journalism and media coverage around mental health can often be sensationalist or “clickbait”, as well as extractive and tokenistic, using people’s deeply personal experiences as “stories” to “add colour” to media pieces without serving those whose voices and experiences it wishes to use to further its reach and impact.
Our 2026 research report, ‘Not Just a Story’, explores the experiences people with lived experience have when engaging with the media. It provides guidance for journalists on ways to improve their approach and avoid re-traumatisation through engagement. We encourage journalists to make time to read the report and its guidance here.
In order to feel relatively confident that the ask for engagement that we share is ethical, we will want to understand from the journalist:
- What the purpose of the piece is – is it genuinely meaningful?
- Will contributors have the option of anonymity?
- Which publication(s) does the journalist plan to approach with their pitch/what is the name of the publication that will publish the piece (if already confirmed)?
- How contributors will be able to engage: will they have the option of speaking to the journalist via a medium of their choice, can they bring a supportive person to any interview, and can they be provided with the questions they will be asked in advance? This is all important in the acknowledgment that people are being asked to talk about deeply personal and painful experiences, and to support them through this.
- What level of agency can people have over how their quotes/contributions are used, how they are represented, and what context they will be positioned alongside or against? For example, can they have a final say on what is selected for inclusion in the piece from what they have said, and at least see an outline of the rest of piece that their contributions are contained within?
- If applicable, will contributors be kept in the loop with anything further that results from the publication of a piece, particularly investigative pieces?
If you are approaching us regarding a callout, we will ask you to address these questions. We will want to share this information in the callout itself, so that people can make informed decisions about whether they would like to engage.
If we are not confident that the engagement will be handled in a way that is ethical (which will also include us considering the language and tone used in the approach to us), or if it is not directly connected to NSUN’s remit, we will not share the callout with our members. Please note that we are very unlikely to share last minute, ‘on the day’ requests for comment/interviews, and we may not be able to share requests for participation in student journalism.
Finally, we understand that it is not the norm for contributors to be provided with any form of remuneration for time spent doing media engagements, but we would encourage the media to think about how contributors may be able to get something in return for their time and expertise beyond just “having their voices heard”, including through payment.