ITV today announced The Mental Health in the Media conference, designed in partnership with Mind, YoungMinds, CALM, SAMH, and the Film and TV Charity.
Taking place on 14th and 15th of March, the conference brings together creative and mental health leaders to further understanding around mental health and inspire tangible progress both on-screen and off-screen.
The conference consists of four panel events each tackling a different theme. Caring for contributors, chaired by Baroness Ruth Davidson, and featuring panellists from behind the scenes of unscripted shows, looks at how the industry can best take care of participants and contributors before, during and after production.
Tackling Taboos on TV, chaired by Alastair Campbell, and featuring writers, actors and commissioners from major soaps and dramas, will explore portrayals of mental health on-screen. Changing minds on mental health, chaired by Tom Bradby, looks at the role of marketing in driving awareness and challenging stereotypes of mental health, featuring panellists from brands and advertising agencies.
Protecting wellbeing on productions, chaired by Adil Ray, and in collaboration with the Film and TV Charity, brings together production and workplace wellbeing experts to discuss how we protect the mental health of our teams and freelancers, where creativity is the goal.
The conference has been put together to mark 3 years of ITV’s Mental Health Advisory Group, a group of charity and professional experts who provide guidance and support on all aspects of ITV’s approach to wellbeing, on-screen and off-screen.
ITV has a long-standing commitment to promoting better mental wellbeing as part of its social purpose. Since 2019, Britain Get Talking, developed in partnership with Mind, YoungMinds and SAMH, has been the UK’s most well-known mental health campaign. Other powerful initiatives include This Morning’s Last Photo campaign with CALM and Good Morning Britain’s 1 Million Minutes campaign, which aims to tackle loneliness in the UK by encouraging people to volunteer. ITV is on track to have prompted 200 million actions by the UK public to improve their mental or physical health by the end of 2023.
As well as promoting mental wellbeing to viewers, ITV is also committed to improving duty of care practices that support the mental wellbeing of staff and participants of shows.
ITV and the BBC have teamed up to develop a continuing professional development programme which has been accredited by the British Psychological Society to expand the pool of registered psychologists with experience of working in television. Applications for this programme are live via ITV’s LinkedIn page. The closing date is Friday 10th February.
Carolyn McCall, ITV’s Chief Executive says, “At ITV, part of our purpose is to shape culture for good and we do that continually through impactful initiatives and campaigns like Britain Get Talking. The Mental Health in the Media conference is a new initiative that will inspire conversations across the industry and encourage the sharing of what works well to drive change. Tackling topics related to mental health in our industry has never been more important and I’m very pleased that we’re helping to stimulate debate, discussion and ultimately action, around this vital topic.”
For more information about the conference and to sign up to attend visit:
Mentalhealthinthemedia.itv
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