MATT joins the journalism community in mourning the loss of Suzanne Mills, daughter of the legendary Therese Mills, the founding Editor in Chief of Newsday. A well regarded political reporter and commentator, she took up the job of Newsday editor, but had a relatively short career there, buffeted by mental health issues.

Ms Mills wrote a column for several months in 2019-2020 for the Trinidad Express and openly discussed her experiences with bipolar disorder.

In an April 2021 post to Linked In, Ms Mills published an excerpt from a book she was working on, “BiPolar-The Ups and Downs.
This is an excerpt from that post.

A few months ago, someone told me to snap out of it.
“Look at what happened to me. My mother just died.”
I was taken aback at the aggression of her advice but chalked it up to grief.
My position is that you cannot compare one type of pain with another. Mourning is a different excruciating emotional process, one of whose phases is depression.
In my case, I cannot “snap out of it.” I wish I could. I accept that I cannot. It is something in me, a fusion of cross wiring and psychological repressions and underdevelopment.

The circumstances of her passing are a powerful reminder of the toll that journalism can take on its pratitioners and the importance of self-care and supportive conversations in the execution of our duties.

MATT is committed to increasing opportunities to address these issues facing journalists and extend our condolences to the friends and family of Ms Mills on her passing.