The Film and TV Charity has announced a new hub featuring resources designed to help industry freelancers with their mental health needs. The new Freelancer Wellbeing Hub will provide educational tools and resources for freelancers, who comprise over 50 per cent of the TV and film industry workforce, but often lack access to support.
The Freelancer Wellbeing Hub has been launched as part of the Film and TV Charity’s Let’s Reset campaign, which aims to improve mental health for workers in the screen industries. It comes in the wake of the charity’s Looking Glass Survey, which found that one of the key factors behind poor mental health in the film and TV industries was a lack of access to support and that this problem was more prevalent among freelancers.
The resources will include a directory listing common risk factors for freelancers in the industry, along with advice on aspects of wellbeing such as addressing difficult conversations and how to build a support network.
The first resources to go live will be a short quiz on identifying signs of stress and referring individuals to relevant support and a short film designed to help freelance workers identify common factors contributing to stress.
Over the coming months, the hub will expanded to include more resources relevant to the mental health and wellbeing needs of freelancers. Further resources will include support on financial issues, maintaining wellbeing while not working and advice on how to connect with others.
Film and TV Charity Community Support Lead Lucy Powell said: “Working as a freelancer in our industry can be incredibly challenging, with a range of factors from long hours to loneliness and little formal support all taking their toll.
“Our Let’s Reset campaign is about demonstrating that everyone has a role to play in supporting themselves and those working for them… This new resource is a key part of the programme we developed in response to our research, helping to make sure that individuals feel that the difficulties they are encountering are being seen, and ensuring that everyone can find clear support and guidance.”
