This is where industry giants like BAFTA come into play. They work with invaluable charities like Safe In Our World to champion the importance of raising awareness, but also in seeing that awareness turns into supportive action.
For the last two years in a row, these two intuitions have joined forces to create amental healthevent to help bring this issue to the forefront of our minds. Filled with a whole host of experts, its aim is to provide a “dedicated day” that addresses “mental health issues” the industry faces.
Advert
Advert
Discussions on four-day work weeks, social mobility, building resilience, and other vital workshops took place throughout the day of 3 June. I was eager to attend, given my own experiences with mental illness, yet, on the day of the event, as I waited for the train, I suffered a severe panic attack. Ironically, as I waited to attend a mental health workshop, my own mental health decided to remind me of the hold it has over my life; over my experiences.
To be humbled like that in such a public setting was incredibly distressing. Yet, it also emboldened me. Not in the moment, of course, but afterwards, when the fear had subsided. I wanted to do more than write about the event, as important as it is, and instead focus on its aftermath; to delve into the work that continues once the BAFTA HQ doors are closed.
Advert
Advert
BAFTA’s head of games, Luke Hebblethwaite, reaffirms this stance saying, “There are a multitude of pressures on people within our sector – some that are unique to games, but many that are also common to people in all kinds of roles. Our aim is to help address those challenges and improve the working lives of everyone in our industry, whatever your role.”
It’s easy to speak of awareness, but it’s only through actions that we’ll reap the benefits we keep referring to yet rarely seeing. Arguably, this is what’s spurred on BAFTA and Safe In Our World: so we’re not doomed to repeat only a performative display of mental health advocacy.
But our mental welfare isn’t just a standalone entity; it impacts every aspect of our lives, both socio and economic. We see this in the north/south divide, as well as in the class divide that many claim isn’t there anymore but is now more evident than ever. Placed in situations where access to the same opportunities as those born into wealth is removed, is just one of the many ways our mental health can be worn down, especially in a sector that predominately favours those from financially stable backgrounds.
Advert
Advert
It’s a topic that Hebblethwaite delved into during the Summit, providing an interactive way that we, as a collective, can better improve access. As a working-class individual, social mobility is incredibly important to me, not least of all because I’ve faced many obstacles because of my upbringing. Being automatically written off because of my birthright – or should I say, lack of it – has undoubtedly hindered my career progression. Granted, I’ve weathered those storms, but it’s left unseen scars because I’ve had to fight tooth and nail to earn my place.
As Hebblethwaite summarises, “The socio-economic make-up of our industry intersects with many other areas of representation, as well as mental health, because of the additional pressures from obvious financial ones such as needing to paying the bills to ones that are perhaps more hidden like impostor syndrome.”
Advert
Advert
The work never stops. And while there’s no confirmation of another event just yet, there are many irons in the fire, so to speak, about how to continue supporting mental health within the games industry. In the words of Hebblethwaite, “Mental health in games will remain firmly on BAFTA’s agenda.”
Topics:Mental Health,Features,Interview
