National health promotion charity, Entertainment Assist, has announced the formation of the Australian Alliance for Wellness in Entertainment (AAWE) – a world-first, cross-sector initiative for shared interest in positive mental health and wellbeing behaviours for a sustainable Australian entertainment industry.
The Australian Alliance for Wellness in Entertainment is a peer-to-peer initiative to be implemented in collaboration with peak bodies, sector representatives, employers, employees and freelancers within Australia’s live and recorded entertainment industry, along with the following founding members:
- Arts Wellbeing Collective
- Ausdance National
- Australian Society for Performing Arts Healthcare
- Entertainment Assist
- Live Performance Australia
- Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance
- Music Australia
- Screen Producers Australia
- The Australian Council of Deans & Directors of Creative Arts
To inform a “Prevention First Framework”, an invitation is extended to entertainment industry professionals, across all sectors, to have their say and attend nation-wide forums to identify existing wellness initiatives, engage in intra and cross sector communication and help prioritise key areas for systemic change.
Forums will be held in venues across the country from 13 November to 5 December 2017 and will consist of an industry wellness information session, followed by sector-based round table discussions. Seating is strictly limited. An online survey will be made available for those unable to attend.
This initiative follows research commissioned by Entertainment Assist in 2015 and undertaken by College of Arts, Victoria University. The report, titled ‘Working in the Australian Entertainment Industry: Final Report’ revealed troubling statistics compared to the general population:
- suicide attempts are more than double
- moderate to severe anxiety are 10 times higher
- and depression five times higher
“Entertainment Assist’s vision is for mental health in the entertainment industry to be actively and openly addressed. AAWE is a game changing platform from which this vision can be realised – going one step further to address wellbeing through a “prevention first” lens. With industry leaders representing all sectors, AAWE’s founding members commit to wellness in entertainment and ask all industry members to join AAWE and do the same. Goose bump moments don’t get better than this!” says Susan Cooper, General Manager, Entertainment Assist and AAWE Convenor.
To join AAWE and register attendance at one of the forums, go here
