Mail, documents, receipts—you name it—pile up on my desk on a regular basis. As an expert in family violence and youth trauma who balances her time between patients, conferences, research, book-writing, and media appearances, I rarely have time to keep my office organized. So my desk always looks busy—or cluttered, depending on your point of view. One Friday afternoon, I methodically attacked the foot-high piles, designating one stack for the trash, one to file, one to pass on to someone else, and one to act on. Grasping the next large envelope, I saw an invitation to attend a “People to People” trip for psychologists to visit South Africa.
What a dream trip! It offered visits to hospitals, townships, and Kruger National Park, as well as personal encounters with other psychology experts in my field across the Republic of South Africa. I had to go, and I knew that besides taking a great adventure and enriching my knowledge base, others would be interested in learning about my trip as well. To generate media coverage, I put some other pressing work on hold and took the time to write a press release: “Psychology Expert to Discuss Violence and Mental Heath Issues in South Africa.” Busy life or not, it was imperative that I found a couple of hours to inform the media about this important event. And by writing this press release, I was able to take the trip of a lifetime, and achieve publicity.
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