Discover the main tasks, what you need to be able to do and everything you need to understand to achieve these competencies effectively.
Overview of mental health for the screen industries
What is meant by mental health, mental wellbeing and mental ill-health:
How our mental health compares to our physical health
The idea of our mental health existing on continuum
The higher risk factors or workplace stressors (and sometimes less immediate support) for people working in the screen industries than during education, or than those working in other industries:
The everyday risk factors or stressors that can impact our mental health, including working patterns, work content, etiquette and culture
How supporting mental health at work can benefit individuals, and positively affect organisations and the screen industry:
Understand how good wellbeing is critical to the industry to drive greater productivity and creativity, both personally and organisationally
Maintain good mental health when working in the screen industries
The importance of developing self-awareness and understanding of your own personality and character, as a foundation for mental wellbeing:
How you can use tools like Myers-Briggs to understand different personality types and their relationship to occupations and working as a team
The importance of “checking in with ourselves” periodically and thinking about where we are on the mental-health continuum
The importance of resilience as a key factor in protecting and supporting mental health:
How ‘resilience’ refers to our psychological ability to cope with stress and hardship, and fluctuates like our mental health
The importance of developing, communicating and sharing self-care strategies for each production or job, to manage stress levels and to support mental wellbeing:
- The protective factors that can reduce the likelihood of developing mental health problems, such as being physically healthy or having social support
- Practical ways to improve our mental wellbeing
The barriers to self-care that may be present in our work and how to overcome them:
Typical barriers to self-care for the screen industries, such as long hours or unpredictable schedules
Day-to-day coping strategies for resilience, including:
- Our constructive response to feedback
- How we deal with conflict
- Our ability to listen, negotiate, empathise with others, and resolve issues
- Our ability to react and adapt to changes
Seek support and support others
The importance of asking early for support to help us feel better sooner:
- The different factors preventing people in the screen industries from seeking help, such as social stigma
- How different cultures may perceive and respond to mental health problems
- What kind of support you might expect from employers as good practice
How to follow the ‘ask, listen, support’ approach to support a colleague who appears to be struggling:
The risks and boundaries when offering support, such as having ‘permission to help’, as opposed to needing to ‘help without permission’
Be able to signpost individuals who experience mental health problems (as well as their families and carers) towards further help, resources or guidance:
- Know both services for the general public and those specific to the screen industries
- Awareness of wider screen industry initiatives to support mental wellbeing, e.g. Freelance Charter
- Signpost to opportunities for coaching, where appropriate
Download all Mental health awareness competences to explore them anytime.
See these other related competencies: