Erin Anderssen

💼  Publication:
The Globe and Mail
✍️ Category:
Wellness
🌎  Country:
Canada

Erin Anderssen brings a humanist lens to national conversations through her work at The Globe and Mail. Her reporting spans three key areas:

Core Coverage Areas

  • Wellness Innovation: Documents evidence-based approaches to mental health and community resilience
  • Military Affairs: Analyzes policy through the lived experiences of service members and families
  • Lifestyle Psychology: Explores how daily habits shape cultural identity and personal fulfillment

Pitching Insights

  • Lead with data-driven hope: Successful pitches combine rigorous research with solutions-oriented framing
  • Bridge personal and political: Stories must connect individual experiences to broader societal trends

Anderssen’s work has redefined how Canadian media approaches happiness narratives, earning recognition from mental health advocates and policy makers alike.

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More About Erin Anderssen

Bio

Erin Anderssen: Chronicling Human Resilience and Societal Shifts

We’ve followed Erin Anderssen’s work as a storyteller who illuminates the intersections of personal well-being and national identity. Her two-decade career at The Globe and Mail reveals a journalist equally comfortable analyzing military strategy as profiling Canadians redefining happiness.

Career Evolution: From Institutions to Individual Experiences

  • Early Reporting (2000s): Investigated systemic issues in education and social services
  • National Affairs (2010-2015): Covered military modernization and veterans’ advocacy
  • Human Interest Pivot (2016-Present): Pioneered solutions journalism around mental health and community building

Defining Works

What Can We Learn From Some of the Happiest People in Canada?

Anderssen’s 2025 podcast episode for The Globe and Mail showcases her innovative approach to wellness reporting. Through interviews with subjects aged 3 to 87, she identifies six common traits among those maintaining joy through adversity. The piece stands out for its longitudinal approach, revisiting participants from her 2022 series on pandemic resilience.

“Happiness isn’t about avoiding storms – it’s about dancing in the rain boots life gives you.”

The Future of the Canadian Military

This 2024 analysis piece demonstrates Anderssen’s deep grasp of defense policy. She traces the evolution of Canada’s peacekeeping identity through interviews with 43 active service members and veterans. The article sparked parliamentary committee discussions about modernizing mental health support systems for military families.

How to Practice Novelty in Your Life

Anderssen’s 2025 social media essay distills academic research on neuroplasticity into actionable lifestyle advice. The piece went viral for its “micro-adventure” framework – small daily practices that combat emotional stagnation. Mental health professionals now use this work in therapeutic contexts.

Pitch Priorities and Rationales

1. Ground Policy Analysis in Human Stories

Anderssen’s military reporting always connects strategic decisions to individual experiences. A successful pitch might explore how new veteran housing initiatives impact rural communities, featuring both architects and residents. This aligns with her award-winning series on military family transitions [6].

2. Highlight Counterintuitive Wellness Approaches

She prioritizes evidence-based alternatives to mainstream self-care trends. Researchers studying “productive nostalgia” or community-based anxiety interventions should emphasize measurable outcomes and real-world applications, as seen in her happiness project methodology [3][8].

3. Identify Systemic Innovations

Anderssen spotlights programs that scale personal solutions into policy frameworks. A municipal initiative training hairdressers in mental health first aid, combining personal storytelling with public health strategy, would match her cross-disciplinary approach [1][4].

Industry Recognition

  • 2024 National Newspaper Award Finalist: For her series reconciling Canada’s peacekeeping history with modern defense needs
  • 2023 Canadian Science Writers’ Association Honor: Recognizing her accessible translation of positive psychology research

Top Articles

What can we learn from some of the happiest people in Canada?

Read article

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