(Photo: Jessica Brown)

The Journalist Dilemma

Therapy helps Chicago Tribune photographer cope with constant exposure to tragedy

Armando Sanchez while calmly sipping coffee in a cozy café can describe the smell of burned flesh in the air after a house fire. During his job as a reporter and photographer for the Chicago Tribune, those are the kinds of tragedies he has to cover every week.

“I wouldn’t say it’s run-of-the-mill, but there are some things you get sort of used to,” he said.

Sanchez, 30, has seen the worst of Chicago’s violence over the course of his career. He’s photographed shootings, waded through blood-soaked crime scenes and seen families grieve in the streets for lost loved ones. This can be mentally grueling at times, he said, and he isn’t the only journalist who has to contend with stress caused by the job. In a 2006 study, it was discovered that journalists such as Sanchez who are exposed to “traumatic situations” during their work have a higher than average risk of developing mental illnesses such as anxiety and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). 

There are also late nights, early mornings and demanding deadlines Sanchez has to contend with every week, but it’s worth it to him. Photojournalism has been a dream job of his since he was a high schooler in Austin, Texas.

“My mom told me, ‘Your sister’s really good at this. Maybe you should get into [photojournalism],’” Sanchez said. “I wasn’t really sure about it. I played golf and was a theater tech. And then one day, when I was a junior, I decided to try it. I went in head-first and absolutely loved it.” 

After interning at the Chicago Tribune in 2012 and graduating from Western Kentucky University soon after, he freelanced in Chicago until he heard about a residency opening at the Tribune. He applied and got hired, and has been there ever since.

Sanchez also photographs sporting events and takes scenic shots of the city, but the more gruesome stories he covers sometimes leave a lasting mental impact.

“There are a lot of moments I remember every day,” Sanchez said. 

During the course of his work for the Tribune, Sanchez has tried to avoid building up “emotional callouses” — while he wants to separate himself emotionally from the graphic stories he covers, he strives to do so without becoming cold and stoic. According to him, self-care is especially important.

“At some point, you have to take care of yourself a little bit,” Sanchez said. “I make it a point to have a routine that I stick to that makes me feel physically and mentally healthy. Whether that’s doing something just for me, or going for a run, or talking about it with other people. If you keep something in, eventually your psyche builds up and you might not realize it … You have to find a way to let the valve release.”

Sanchez said he attended therapy for a few years to alleviate stress when he first started his career as a photojournalist. Even though it wasn’t necessarily linked to his job, it has helped him cope.

“I think that kind of helped train me better than most [of my colleagues] to be able to handle my emotions and stay calm,” Sanchez said. “When you’re in these moments where people are upset and there’s really gruesome things happening, that can be hard.”

Sanchez has colleagues who are affected by their work, as well. He said the Tribune is very understanding of the mental stress some of its reporters can be under when covering particularly unpleasant stories, and he knows he has a support network around him in the newsroom to get him through the worst days.

“I think mental health is important in journalism, or in any other field that can be stressful,” Sanchez said. “[The Tribune] is a really supportive place. A company can only help you so much, though — it’s really about the reporters around you … I feel like I can walk up to any one of the photographers I work with … and they’d be more than happy to be supportive of me and listen.”

The one photograph Sanchez said he thinks about most often is an image of a white woman comforting the distraught son of a murdered black woman after a shooting in Chicago’s Back of the Yards neighborhood. He took the photo while he was working a 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. shift for the Tribune, and he said it has impacted him more than any other photo he’s taken.

“The guy was so upset … he ended up just passed out in front of someone’s house, just crying,” Sanchez said. “And this woman came over … and she bent over and was trying to show him compassion. I wanted to capture it because … I don’t think it’s what people imagine when they imagine Chicago gun violence. It’s about the community and the people who are there … it’s about humanity.”

Sanchez said, he loves his work and wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. 

“I knew [when I started] it was going to be the kind of challenging work that I wanted to do, versus the kind of work that just pays the bills,” he said.

Filed under: Mental Health

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