Real Stories. Lasting Impact.
See how Screen Well is supporting change across the screen industry.
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA)
Accredited training that equips staff with the skills to support colleagues in crisis or distress.
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"Fremantle Media engaged Screen Well to deliver two Mental Health First Aid workshops in 2023, the workshops were a huge success and the facilitator Ben was incredible using his deep industry experience to bring relevance to the information, and his energy kept participants highly engaged and really brought the workshop to life.
By the end of the sessions, our attendees have reported that they are much more able to better manage their own mental health as well as having the tools to support anyone struggling at work or in their personal lives.
The workshops were so highly regarded, Fremantle are rolling these workshops out again in 2024. Having Mental Health First Aiders on all our Productions are now intrinsic to the way we operate.”
- Lynette Jones, Director of HR, Fremantle Australia
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"This course is a game changer for employers, producers and frankly as a human. It gives you a frame work, language and tools to be able to understand, identify, and provide basic support for mental health.”
- Chloe Rickard, producer, Jungle Entertainment
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"ScreenWell's Mental Health First Aid training was relevant, practical and directly applicable to the screen industry.
The opportunity to explore mental health scenarios that might arise during a production was invaluable, and Ben delivered the live component in an engaging, calm and inclusive way.
I also loved the practical application of each module to the film industry, and took away a list of ideas that I'll definitely be using on my future projects."
- Kirsty Stark, producer, Epic Films
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"The MHFA course is essential for anybody who manages people and those who want a healthy, sustainable industry for all. Mental health promotion practices are an integral part of my productions now, just like any standard safety process and has helped me establish the open framework and team culture that I want to be a part of.”
- Tsu Shan Chambers, Actor, Writer, Producer, Wise Goat Productions
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“I wanted to drop you a line to say how grateful I am for this course and the opportunity to attend it.
Just last night I was able to use the skills I had learned in this course to successfully provide MHFA to one of my cast members - one of the main reasons I wanted to take the course in the first place.
Can’t tell you how valuable this is and how much confidence I felt knowing I was able to provide the right support instead of floundering in the dark with platitudes.”
- Tammy Sarah Linde, Director/Workshop Facilitator
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“I am incredibly grateful to have been selected for this training. It felt essential for my role as a disability support worker in the film and television industry, filling a key gap in my skills.
Our industry involves complex, layered individuals from various backgrounds, and I find there’s often a strong intersectionality between disability and trauma histories. The Zoom training was excellent—very conversational, and I appreciated the opportunity to discuss and practise the tools, which gave me a range of perspectives.
I also wanted to highlight how much I appreciated receiving a physical copy of the book. As someone with ADHD, I sometimes find it challenging to manage everything digitally, so having something tangible made the modules much more accessible.
These skills have not only benefited my professional life but also my personal life, including my own self-care. I believe this training is making a significant impact, and I’m hopeful that we can continue to shape and improve our industry culture. I’ve already recommended Screen Well to several people in my network.
Thank you again for facilitating such an engaging and interactive training.”
- Eleni Modinos, actor, writer, director
Presentations & Workshops
Practical, industry-specific sessions (like Mental Health Essentials, WASP, and Navigating a Creative Life) designed to build awareness, reduce risks, strengthen peer support, and prepare emerging practitioners for sustainable careers in the screen industry.
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“Over the last three years NIDA has built an ongoing relationship with Ben Steel and Screen Well. Earlier this year Ben delivered the Wellbeing Awareness & Skill Program to our first year undergraduates. The response was positive and our students were engaged and curious about the content.
Embedding this material into our student's learning experience is valuable to ensure our graduates enter the industry with an understanding of healthy workplace practises.
We will continue to engage and partner with Screen Well moving forward and are so grateful for the work Ben and his team are doing.”
- Kareena Hodgson, Senior Counsellor NIDA
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“Screen Well's 'Navigating a Creative Life' keynote was a transformative experience for our final year media students.
It offered crucial insights and thereby was an invaluable experience for aspiring creatives entering a demanding film and television industry. We share Screen Well’s understanding that the industry will be more successful if its workforce is mentally healthy.”
- Professor Lisa French, RMIT Dean, School of Media and Communication.
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"It was a pleasure working with the Screen Well team on their Mental Health Essentials course for our production teams. The workshop was both informative and engaging, and it was well received by staff. In particular, the detail in the customisation components of the course specific to our workplace, made it relevant to the day to day challenges of working within the TV industry for our production teams.”
- Alana Echo, Head of HR, ITV Studios Australia
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"Bus Stop Films reached out to ScreenWell to help our growing national staff build their skills and understanding of mental health. We wanted to ensure that our staff had the tools and resources to be confident in supporting their own mental health and taking daily steps towards this. Ben was an incredible teacher and really helped foster a safe and inclusive space for our staff."
- Bus Stop Films
Who we’ve worked with:
Resources & Guides
Freely available tools to help productions integrate wellbeing best practices into everyday work.
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"The Screen Well resources are great and helpful in simplifying what can be quite heavy material. Thanks for everything you do to support the industry.”
- Alexandra Armstrong, People & Culture Advisor - Screen Queensland.
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"Screen Well has some of the most important, practical resources directly applicable to our industry that is so easy to incorporate! I love that they are free and accessible for anyone to use - it makes my job that much easier."
- Tsu Shan Chambers, Actor, Writer, Producer, Wise Goat Productions
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“Industry resources from Screen Well are free and support producers and production teams provide basic well being focused processes for everyone. It takes the pressure off not knowing what to do or ‘getting it wrong’” - Chloe Rickard, executive producer, Jungle Entertainement
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“This resource [Wellbeing for Documentary] comes at a really good time for the industry, to help and support teams to put well-being front and centre of any production.”
- Rebecca McElroy Independent Producer
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“The resources provided by Screen Well have been invaluable in generating incredibly productive conversations in our workplace that, quite honestly, we would never have had previously.”
- anonymous actor
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“Having worked in the screen and media industries last century and this century, the difference in approaches to ethics, care and well-being is profound.
The Screen Well resources are necessary and welcome. It helps all of us to share focus on 'me' and 'we'. When we develop skills and scope to implement care policies and practices, the benefits have a ripple effect we can all enjoy.
It's great to feel more human while we're all busy making engaging screen content that saves the planet!”
- Renée Brack, writer, researcher, filmmaker
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“Screen Well’s ‘Wellbeing for Documentary’ is a vital resource for all filmmakers”
- anonymous actor
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"It's all too easy in the busy environment of a production to miss the small but vital details that can make a big difference to the mental health of our cast and crews.
Screen Well's practical resources offer that opportunity to step back, recognise and implement a range of strategies that will change our industry culture for the better.
They've done all the research and hard work for us, and provided information, templates and ideas that can be easily used on a project of any scale.”
- Kirsty Stark, Producer, Epic Films
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"For far too long we have accepted unhealthy work practices as the norm in our industry and these have come at a high cost in terms of mental wellbeing.
Screen Well is the first organisation to properly look at how we can better resource productions, cast and crew to manage this challenge and I welcome using their guides on our future productions at Film Art Media”.
- Sue Maslin AO, Producer
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“We’ve been looking after the equipment, the trucks, and the physical aspects on set for a while, it’s time we really look after our people better. It was terrific having Screen Well involved in piloting the Wellbeing Facilitator role our recent production in Cairns, I can really see the value of having a person focused on supporting wellbeing in our workplaces.”
- Andrew McInally, First Assistant Director
Psychosocial Safety for the Australian Screen Industry
Learn how to identify, assess, and proactively manage psychological hazards to prevent risks and harms, and to create safer, healthier workplaces in the screen industry.