How To Be A Better Mental Health Writer
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio
Like any other freelance writing niche, mental health and addiction recovery topics have “best practices” for writing them. You don’t want your clients constantly sending the drafts back several times because they need a statistic or for you to put a more sensitive word instead of “mentally disturbed” and suchlike things. You also would like to make your clients shine and subsequently, have yourself shining as well.
Wouldn’t it be amazing if you had the top tips for creating the best content for this niche? What matters most when creating mental health and addiction recovery content?
We’ll discuss some core strategies for crafting mental health writing today. Come along!
Establish Credibility in Your Posts
In the mental health and addiction recovery writing space, credibility is paramount. Opinion pieces are plenty on the internet but many readers want to ensure something works before they can trust you. You have to fill your article with the most recent research and real stories backing your points, otherwise it may sound like mere opinion.
Systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and scoping reviews from authoritative journals are some examples of research to help you deduce facts available in the field. For every assertive statement, include at least two non-competitor, authoritative sources to back it. For instance, “It was claimed in X research, and this other Y research that this fact is true (percentage/stat/qualitative view)).”
You can also include a real-life story to back up your point further.
However, when you can’t prove some points that are suggested by experts, it’s essential to present them as so. Maintain a neutral stance on unverified but crucial-to-mention information for the reader to get an accurate perspective. You can use statements like “This may reduce your symptoms,” or “This might work for people with autism” when presenting unverified points.
Focus On Providing the Best Value
Like any other good business, you need to always aim at creating the most valuable content on the topic on the internet. This benefits the reader most while converting more customers for your clients which in turn makes you a highly sought-after writer. You have to ask yourself, “What will make this post the best there is on the internet?” This is of course after doing your research on Google on other articles on the keyword.
Check the top 5 to 10 results and see what they all include that’s relevant to the topic so that you can include such details with your own spin. Then check what else you need to add that readers want to know. Statistics, personal stories, and other groundbreaking research would help you in accomplishing this.
Exercise Empathy
Mental health and recovery experts emphasize using non-derogatory language when addressing the topics. You play a huge role in helping advance treatment and recovery of individuals struggling with mental health and addiction which is why you have to adopt the right language.
The American Psychiatry Association put guidelines for reporting on mental health conditions that you’d be wise to get acquainted with. The National Institute for Drug Abuse has also outlined the preferred language for addiction recovery any addiction recovery writer should follow.
Embrace a Practitioner Perspective
As a mental health writer, you need to see your role as that of a practitioner solving patient problems through writing. This way, you not only take pleasure in the work you do but also take it so seriously that it impacts the reader most.
When I write, I don’t just write for my client. I make sure my mindset is tuned to the needs of my readers so that I can source out the most incredible information for them and compile it in the best way they can understand. This way, I can easily do my best on the topic and actually reach the readers’ hearts with powerful content.
I believe these few tips will help you improve your mental health writing and thrive in your freelance writing journey as a whole. All the best, and talk soon.