Introduction to mental health training

This guidance is published by ScreenSkills in partnership with the Film and TV Charity. It was produced by the charity’s Training+ Working Group and Focus Group in response to research on mental health and training in the industry.

ScreenSkills now leads this working group and will continue to update and develop the guidance.

It is designed to give you a framework or overview of the different areas of training you could consider or include when putting together a holistic mental health training plan for your staff or your freelance team.

The guidance bears in mind the specific concerns and needs of the film and television industries. It also looks at factors beyond traditional mental health training which might be important to consider.

The members of the working and focus groups are as follows:

Working Group: BBC, Bectu, BFI, BIFA, Channel 4, Film and TV Charity, ITV, Mama Youth, Production Guild of Great Britain, ScreenSkills and Sky.

Focus Group: 6ft From The Spotlight, Dart Centre Europe for Journalism and Trauma, Dolly Mental Health, Film in Mind, Men Talk Health, Solas Mind, Team Human.

The guidance is divided into the following sections:

1. Introduction
2. Why should employers invest in mental health?
3. Understanding your company’s mental health needs
4. Mental health training accreditation
5. Addressing industry factors which contribute to poor mental health
6. Different styles of training and learning

Overview

In 2021, the Film and TV Charity published a White Paper which highlighted the need for more mental health training for people working in the screen sector and recommended developing an industry-specific approach.

As well as raising awareness of mental health issues, it is important to understand and address certain factors which are specific to the screen sector, so you can equip people with the resources they need to develop and implement safe working practices.

To achieve this, you must consider a holistic approach to mental health training and provide access to ongoing development.

Through an industry working group, the following guidance has been curated to help employers and freelance managers understand what factors to consider and to support everyone they work with, including senior leaders, managers, employees and freelancers.

There is no one solution as each organisation or team will find an approach that best suits their people and needs.

Following this advice, employers and those with line-management responsibilities will feel empowered to put together immediate and longer-term training plans for themselves and the people who work with them.

About this framework

This framework will be reviewed biannually by the industry Working Group to:

• Ensure the framework remains relevant and updated
• Promote the framework to employers
• Develop the framework further
• Measure impact of the framework

If you have any comments about the framework, or suggestions for information that would be useful to include based on your industry experience please let us know at mentalhealth@screenskills.com.