A triage guide for Washington Post staff (and everyone watching)

Kate Woodsome

I worked at The Post from May 2017 to Dec. 2023 as the head of the Opinions video unit and as a columnist covering mental health and society. The messages I’m receiving from friends still there contain the words, “trauma,” “whiplash,” “sad” and “shaken.” I’ve heard similar sentiments from Voice of America journalists who were booted from their newsroom when the Trump administration announced it was shutting down the international broadcaster last year.

This week, Post Editor-in-Chief Matt Murray used a Zoom webinar in which staff couldn’t see each other or ask questions to announce the decimation of the newsroom. This “is going to feel like a shock to the system and raise some questions for everybody,” he admitted. Yes, it is.

These actions fall under the category of institutional betrayal, moral injury and, for some, trauma. These are biopsychosocial wounds that can compound and spread if we don’t know how to respond to them with care and support.

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