Mental health awareness is on the increase, but so, unfortunately is mental illness.

According to MIND, one in four people in the UK will experience mental health issues and the live entertainment industry is no exception, where high pressured environments, anti social hours and long periods of time away from home are often part of the job.

We know every single member of our team works hard and (we hope) love the work they do but no-one is immune and even those with the toughest of exteriors can fall prey to the pressures of life. Whether it's something happening in their professional lives or their personal lives, one will always impact on the other. So with this in mind, I embarked on a two day mental health first aid course with the St John's Ambulance.
This amazing, eye opening course was designed to give a deep understanding of what mental health is and what factors can affect well being. We were taught practical skills to spot the signs of mental illness and ways to step up and support a person who might need assistance.  Learning how to have a non-judgemental conversation and how to always have our eyes open to spot the signs and symptoms of common workplace mental health issues was invaluable.

We hope that we are encouraging a culture of talking amongst our teams, to eliminate any stigma associated with mental health and to provide any support that any one of our employees may need – whether that's organising counselling or just being an informal shoulder to cry on or hand to hold.

In a world where we're all so busy, this is really just about taking time out each and every day to just check in with your collleagues and ask..."are you ok?"