Mental Health in the Industry – a reflection on where the industry is at and a few common industry stressors.

Where are we now?

Perhaps unusually for an article on ‘Mental Health in the Industry’, I wanted to start by holding space (I have been using that for years before the famous interview) for how the industry can have a positive effect on our mental health.

It is a place where community can be found, an irreplaceable buzz can be felt, and an inexplicable connection can be shared.

To turn your hobby, your passion, your talent into a career is a brave and challenging path filled with the highest highs and lowest lows. So you, reading this right now, you are a fricking rockstar.

With that being said, the industry is hard, there are systemic issues that persist, and we are subject to a unique set of pressures that can sometimes make us feel like we exist in a different world to that of our friends and family who have pursued, or are pursuing, more traditional working lives.

The ‘industry’ (if we refer to it as an entity of its own for a second) has some work to do, I want to make that clear to start.

However, like any community or workplace, we also have an individual responsibility too—to contribute positively to it, to take responsibility for ourselves, to support campaigns for change if we can (in big or small ways), and to enrich our lives outside of it so that we don’t feel like our entire worth is determined by it.

There are lots of positive movements and schemes already happening.

But when our personal coping mechanisms feel robust and nourishing and we are operating with better and safer practices in our training establishments and workplaces—this is when we will really begin to feel a positive shift in relation to mental health in the arts.

(+ a better economy, more funding, increased support for the arts, and less turbulent wider social and global issues…)

We can often feel like ‘the industry’ is a ‘them’ and ‘we’ are an ‘us’. The more we separate the humanness from ‘the industry’, the less change will happen.

We are the industry, we can be the change—even if only for ourselves.

What are some of the common stressors?
I’ll start with a disclaimer that experiences in relation to mental health, ill health or illness are deeply personal and individual.

At Applause for Thought (AFT) - we see people experiencing a wide range of challenges and stressors, and they are as unique as the individuals who are living them.

But for the purpose of this blog, I wanted to focus on just a few examples, choosing ones that felt as generalised and broad as possible.

The Juggle

We all know about the industry juggle.

This could look like trying to balance schoolwork with your after school vocational classes, or drama school plus a part-time job, auditioning/interviewing whilst working your side jobs, or being in a job and navigating home life or caring responsibilities.

It can sometimes feel like you are dropping the ball (excuse the juggling pun).

I can’t offer the magic formula or a quick fix (if you know one, call me), but I can offer what felt like a light bulb moment for me: Radical self-compassion, a term shared with me by my incredible colleague and our Support Lead and Psychotherapist at AFT, Victoria Abbott.

It goes beyond saying “just go easy on yourself”, “you can’t do it all”.

It is (as the term suggests) a radical, active, conscious, uncomfortable change to how we talk to ourselves, treat ourselves, and in this case, scrutinise our ability to juggle.

You are going to drop balls, some are more important than others, and it can sometimes take a while to figure out which ones we need to prioritise keeping up at any one time.

Give yourself permission to ebb and flow—to sometimes find it easy to do it and sometimes find it hard.

Test your limits on what feels too much—building resilience, tolerance and capacity means testing your limits with compassion and curiosity, not brute strength and rigidity.

Don’t compare balls—there are infinite number of factors that affect how many balls someone can juggle and for how long they can do it for.

If you stare at theirs too long, you’ll drop yours (trust me, been there).

I think that’s enough juggling and ball analogies for now!

Identity & Self-worth

Going back to my point about how meaningful it is to turn our passion into a career… well, welcome to the double edge of this sword.

This is an industry that quite frankly, has been known to capitalise on it being people’s dream, passion or calling.

Our identity can become enmeshed with our careers and our self-worth defined by our latest audition, job or review.

When I was training, the rhetoric was that “this has to be your WHOLE WORLD” in order for you to succeed.

I have come to disagree with that idea.

You have to work flipping hard, you need to be passionate, committed, disciplined and dedicated—sure.

But the people that I know who are having long and sustainable careers, are those who also invest in their life outside.

They are yes people, but they also have boundaries.

They maintain their craft, but also have other interests.

They experience rejections and don’t always feel confident, but they still maintain high self-esteem.

Nothing I can write here can give you a sense of identity or increased self-worth (I wish it could), but it is a worthy pursuit, and you deserve to feel at home in yourself, and that home deserves to feel like it is enough.

Apathy

We don’t usually like to talk about this one.

It can feel like this dirty secret in an industry that promotes overworking, complete and utter dedication and unwavering drive.

But if you ever find yourself feeling disengaged, disappointed and lacking motivation (and probably a bit/very tired), you are not alone.

Connection to our craft might go through periods of intensity and brightness but can also dwindle and dim.

I’ve found that in these moments a couple of things have supported the transition.

Stepping away, giving it some space, whether that’s for an hour, a day, a week, a month (or in my case a whole year!)

Rediscovering your ‘why’—how you explore that will be unique to you, but for me it’s finding stillness, some more radical self-compassion, and being more experimental, intuitive and ‘gut-led’ with everything I do (eating, moving, working, socialising, sleeping.)

Finances

This is a huge topic that my word count won’t allow me to get into here.

But it would be remiss of me to talk about mental health in the arts without talking briefly about money.

Feeling financially stable and ‘safe’ has a huge impact on our overall mental wellbeing.

A cost of living crisis (the cozzy livs… one of the best things to come out of the modern British language) is an extra challenge to navigate within an already financially precarious business.

If you are looking for support for your mental health and finances are a barrier, there are some options available to you.

Please find more information here.

Final thoughts
Every job has challenging moments, every path we take will be faced with hurdles to overcome.

Our industry in that way is not unique.

There is so much joy, belonging and magic (sorry that was quite soppy) to be found here, and I for one am hopeful for the future and believe wholeheartedly this is an industry worth fighting for.

Raffaella Covino – Founder and Director of Applause for Thought