Mental Health Matters:
a leaders summit
Summit outcome:
Screen Well is leading a co-design process over the coming months, if you didn’t attend the summit - but are a screen leader and would like your organisation to be involved in creating an industry-lead Action Plan to improve Mental Health in the Australian Screen industry, please click on the button below to contact us.
Screen leaders commit to improve mental health outcomes
Leaders from across the screen industry commit to a collaborative response to improving mental health outcomes at ‘Mental Health Matters: A Screen Leaders’ Summit’, presented by the ABC and Screen Well last Thursday (30th January 2025).
Following a sobering and confronting look at the mental health reality of the screen industry informed by lived experience stories and a first look at Griffith University’s new comprehensive research data, the Summit pivoted to look at what can be done to turn things around following an inspiring panel of mental health experts.
Beyond Blue’s CEO Georgie Harman said “I’m really excited for you as an industry, you’ve just seen some really hard facts that you can’t look away from now. You’ve got big challenges ahead but you’ve taken the first step together”.
“How do you embed what you’re going to come up with this afternoon into the business as usual so it’s not adding to costs but its actually leveraging the infrastructure you’ve already got?” said panelist Margo Lydon, Director of the Workplace Mental Health Advisory.
The Summit included a workshop with senior leaders from across the sector, which Screen Well intends to be the beginning of a collaborative co-design process by industry for industry to address the key issues impacting mental health within the Australian Screen Industry.
Looking back on the event, Screen Well founder Ben Steel says, “Seeing the leaders in the room really engage with the workshop topics, thinking outside the box - exploring together how we can unite to solve these wicked problems was incredible.”
Lucinda Brogden, board member of the Corporate Mental Health Alliance Australia said “You may have some upfront cost to setting some of the systems up but we actually know that people are more productive and will attend work more if you provide a psychological safe workplace, so the numbers are there. But I really find it a bit sad when people say ‘what is the business case’ - are you serious you need a business case to follow the law and do the morally right thing?”
The Summit concluded with every leader in the room standing to show their commitment to this industry-led approach to improve the mental health outcomes of the industry.
During the Summit, it was announced that Jonathon Dutton has joined Ben Steel as a Managing Partner of Screen Well and he said “I was blown away by the response to the Summit. It’s a big topic and a complex issue to address, but with the commitment of so many leaders to work together to improve outcomes, it feels like the Summit could be a turning point for our industry”.