Resilience

In the course of their investigations, our students are likely to come in contact with graphic imagery, hate speech, and other kinds of disturbing user-generated content. Our work in this area began with Amnesty International, with whom our students work on many digital verification projects concerning violence and human rights abuses. From our first training in 2016, secondary trauma has been part of our core curriculum. We continue to collaborate with Amnesty and we integrate research from colleagues at NYU and Columbia, as well as others who have studied trauma and resilience. We listen to our students and alumni who are constantly innovating and seeking better ways of working. Finally, we integrate ideas about wellness and mindfulness from around the world. Our efforts are ever-evolving, but our goal remains to promote wellness, sustainability, ethics, and joy into our global work for human rights and justice. 

Promoting Restoration and Capacity Building for Human Rights Investigators

• In partnership with UC Santa Cruz’s Research Center for the Americas, we’ve helped develop a toolkit for human rights investigators that equips them with strategies to increase resilience and identify trauma responses. The toolkit is a free resource available to everyone.

Rated R for Resilience

• Co-created by three Investigations Lab alumnae, this project was created in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and increase in global protest – both physical and digital. They’ve created multiple free toolkits for digital investigators and people encountering traumatic content online.

Making Secondary Trauma a Primary Issue

• Eyewitness Media Hub

The hidden victims of repression – how activists and reporters can protect themselves from secondary trauma

• Amnesty International Citizen Evidence Lab

Handling Traumatic Imagery: Developing a Standard Operating Procedure

• DART Center for Trauma and Journalism