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Help kickstart important conversations and make moves to improve mental health with practical self-care and support strategies.
REWIRE: Managing Mental Health are live workshops (offered in-person or digitally) designed to help participants identify signs of mental ill health & psychological distress in themselves and others, and educate participants about key Support Act services. REWIRE covers the basics around what we’re talking about when we talk about mental health and psychological distress, and provide some practical tips for creative workers to alleviate distress for themselves and others.
Why REWIRE?
Working in creative industries can be hard on your mental health. Our 2024 survey revealed what many of us working in or connected to creative industries have been feeling for a while – that levels of psychological distress and poor mental health outcomes are rife amongst the Australian creative worker community.
In fact, 53.5% of people working in music and creative industries are experiencing high or very high levels of psychological distress* (link to 2024 survey data), leaving people feeling hopeless, worthless, nervous, exhausted, restless and stressed-out. These levels are more than triple that of those in the general population.
REWIRE: Managing Mental Health are 90-minute sessions which acknowledge the unique challenges of working in music and the creative industries on mental health. Sessions are available as public access* (link to our calendar) or can be tailored to staff or managers and held for your business or organisation. The sessions explore why working in music and the creative industries can be hard on mental health, the basics of psychosocial safety, how self-care can help alleviate psychological distress and reduce the risk of making things worse, and how to give and get support.
What you’ll learn
What to expect from a music workers/staff session:
- Understand mental health using the spectrum of wellbeing
- Learn more about the unique challenges facing those working in creative industries
- Identify ways that you can take better care of yourself in the areas of physical health, growth and mastery, connection and community, meaning and purpose
- Recognise signs that someone might be experiencing or at risk of mental health issues
- Learn how to listen and kick off important conversations around mental health
- Understand what supports and resources are available for creative workers
What to expect from a managers session
- Recognise how mental health/wellbeing exists on a spectrum, and why working in music and the creative industries can be uniquely challenging for people’s mental health.
- Identify the three domains where psychosocial hazards in the workplace can manifest.
- Recognise the signs that might indicate you or a colleague is struggling with mental health issues, and how to ask questions and listen with empathy and support.
- Identify risk factors for workplace stress, which can contribute to both physical and psychological ill health.
- Recognise eight action-areas in which managers/team leaders can individually contribute to fostering a mentally healthy workplace
How can I complete the workshops?
Our REWIRE workshops are available both online and in-person. Public access sessions will be announced via our socials and newsletter so keep an eye out for upcoming sessions.
If you’re part of an Australian music or creative-industry-oriented business or organisation, get in touch to see how we might facilitate a REWIRE session for you and your team.
What to expect
Our REWIRE sessions are available in two 90-min formats, depending on who will be attending
Staff/ Industry Workers session, acknowledges the unique challenges of working in music and the creative industries on mental health. It shares practical strategies to practice self-care, bolster resilience and offers tips & resources around giving and getting support when needed.
Managers/Team Leaders session, educates managers and team leaders about mental health in music and the creative industries. It also helps outline a business or organisations’ obligations to reasonably ensure workplace roles, environments and relationships are optimised to support workers’ psychological safety.
The serious stuff
These are group sessions for music and creative industry workers experiencing, or at risk of, psychological distress, to highlight aspects of the music industry that impact negatively on mental health, help participants identify signs of mental ill health & psychological distress in themselves and others, and educate participants about key Support Act services (including Crisis Relief Grants and the Helpline) which support in the alleviation of psychological distress. This is vital for those 54% of music and live performing arts workers reporting elevated levels of psychological distress.
