ANXIETY, DEPRESSION AND STRESS IN THE CREATIVE, MEDIA AND MARKETING INDUSTRY CONTINUE TO BE A CONCERN – BUT THIS YEAR’S RESEARCH HAS GIVEN US MORE INSIGHT THAN EVER BEFORE. WE DISCOVERED SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES IN EXPERIENCES, ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOURS ACROSS DIFFERENT SECTIONS OF THE INDUSTRY – FROM GENERATIONAL, TO INTERSECTIONAL DIFFERENCES OF RACE, SEXUALITY AND GENDER. WITH THIS LEVEL OF INSIGHT, SUPPORTED BY MORE AND MORE SOCIETAL RESEARCH AND LEARNINGS, THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR ADDRESSING THE RISING MENTAL ILL-HEALTH THAT WORKERS IN OUR INDUSTRY ARE SHOWING.

More than 2,000 people participated in our study this year. Gender-wise, 72% of participants were female, 27% male, and 1% non-binary, while 84% were white, 6% Asian and the rest split between Indian, Hispanic, Pacific Island, Middle-Eastern and other. Age-wise, we saw a fairly even split across 40+ (33%), 30-39 (39%), and under 29 (28%). 32% could be categorised as working for a media agency, 39% in creative agencies, with 22% for media owners or client-side marketing.

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The Headlines

This study was our longest since we began in 2018. It means access to more data and insight than ever before. This report goes in-depth into our findings, but if you’re short on time, here are the headlines.

• Overall, anxiety levels were higher than in our 2022 study and continue to track higher than the general population. Younger respondents (under 29) showed higher signs of anxiety than those respondents over 40.
• Having a choice (flexibility) over where we work correlates with lower anxiety and depression levels than mandating working from the office or home.
• 38% of respondents have been diagnosed with a mental illness.
• We’re as likely to seek help from a manager or colleague for our mental health as we are from a GP.
• Respondents were twice as likely to be diagnosed as neurodivergent than the general population.
• While our participants were predominantly white, heterosexual and cis-gendered, we observed higher signs of anxiety and depression in those who did not match this identity.
• 70% of respondents claimed to have experienced burnout in the last 12 months.
• 51% of leaders were not aware of their obligations under the new psychosocial hazard legislation in Australia.
• The levels of prioritising mental health in a workplace now match more closely with perceived effectiveness than in our 2022 survey.

If this has sparked your interest, then please, continue reading.

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Anxiety and Depression breakdown

Using the DASS-21 methodology from our previous studies, we found that signs of moderate to extremely severe anxiety had increased to 36% of respondents in 2024, compared with 30% in 2022. Increases in signs of depression were less significant at 35% vs 32% in 2022.

In past studies, we observed stronger differences between industries. However, this time around, while depression was highest among creative industry participants, anxiety levels were fairly consistent at 37%, showing moderate to extremely severe levels, with media owner / client side slightly lower at 34%. Depression levels among the media owner / client side participants were significantly lower at 28% moderate to extremely severe.

As people returned to some sort of normality (or what the cliché clickers would call the ‘new normal’) by returning to the office following COVID-19, we were keen to investigate the effects of the work environment on levels of anxiety and depression. A range of policies and unwritten rules have been shared across a variety of companies and industries with many reasons given for both letting people stay at home as well as mandatory office days. So, what did we find?

Perhaps unsurprisingly, depression levels were highest for people working from home, and signs of anxiety were highest for those in the office. However the most interesting finding was that providing true flexibility led to the lowest levels of both. To be clear, flexibility is not the same as hybrid working (which was also an option), where employers mandate a specific number of days in the office. The agency given to employees to choose their own location and modes of working correlates with signs of positive mental wellbeing.

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Male vs female signs of anxiety and depression also varied - 39% of male respondents showed signs of moderate to extremely severe depression vs 33% of females. The dynamic was inverse for anxiety, with 37% of female respondents linked with moderate to extremely severe signs of anxiety and 31% of males.

However, it was during our investigation into gender that we noticed more significant signs of poorer mental health among minority genders, races and sexualities. Unfortunately, the number of participants who were not male, female or white was not statistically significant enough to form definitive conclusions, but the patterns of poorer mental health are undoubtedly present, along with clues as to why. We’ll return to this throughout the report.

In a more clear-cut conclusion, we found that if respondents were dissatisfied with their salary then they were much more likely to show moderate to extremely severe signs of both anxiety and depression. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely employers can just throw money at the problem – probably because they can’t and there are many other variables to consider.

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Have you ever been diagnosed with a mental illness?

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38% of our respondents said yes they have. While we’re under no illusion that a study named mentally healthy may indeed attract participants with an interest and perhaps lived experience of mental ill-health, a rate of more than 1 in 3 is a significant number. This finding takes on more importance when compared to an Australian national study in 2021 (Household Income Labour Dynamics in Australia - HILDA) which found an estimated 19% of Australians reported being diagnosed with depression, anxiety or any other serious mental illness at some time in their life.

The two studies are not directly comparable, but in evaluations of the methodologies, both are seen to be effective in recognising signs of mental illness.

For an industry to show numbers that are double the prevalence in population data shows that we still have a way to go. And no, the ‘excuse’ of “well, we attract a kooky bunch in this industry” isn’t going to cut it.

It’s also not an excuse for an ‘easy ride’. Since covid it seems to be that we’re pushing as hard as ever. Participants with a diagnosis reported that they had worked an average of 9.5 days while physically or mentally unwell in the last month, compared to 7.7 for non-diagnosed. This was up from an average of 5 days in our 2022 study.

With this in mind, the next stat doesn’t come as a surprise. 70% of respondents claimed to have experienced burnout in the last 12 months. This was such a high number that it was difficult to extrapolate clear attitudes, behaviours and experiences that could point to causes. However, when cross-referencing with the SMART Work framework developed by The Future Of Work Institute at Curtin University, we were able to observe a strong correlation with certain ‘at work’ dynamics. SMART stands for Stimulating, Mastery, Agency, Relational Support and Tolerable Demands. You can read more about the framework here.

For participants who had experienced burnout, we noticed much higher levels of intolerable time and emotional demands(more than twice those who had not experienced burnout). In fact, similar levels of difference were observed relating to mastery (the amount of clarity you have on your role and responsibilities and the level of good feedback you receive) and relational support (how connected you feel to the people you work with and who benefit from the work that you do).

All of these factors point to the hypothesis that unsatisfactory work design can severely affect our likelihood of burnout at work. This correlates with a number of research studies across all workplaces. Studies like this burnout-focused report and this healthcare and social assistance industry report.

Burnout isn’t solved by just reducing workload. It’s solved by identifying the elements of more professional management practices, fairer decision-making, and improved communication and connection, to name a few.

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Emerging neurodivergence diagnoses

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For the first time in our research, we asked questions regarding the diagnosis of neurodivergent disorders. 10.3% of participants answered that they had been diagnosed with some sort of neurodivergence, and this increased to 17% in the creative / design industries.

If you’re new to the topic, Neurodivergence includes ADHD (Attention Deficit /Hyperactivity Disorder), autism, dyslexia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia, dysgraphia and chronic mood disorders. For those with a diagnosis, it can often feel like a welcome explanation of experiences they’ve had, feelings they get and why they behave and react in certain ways in certain situations. For those with no experience, it can be overwhelming and daunting to try and understand and think about how to work with, interact and even manage ‘neurospicy’ peeps.

1 in 20 Australians have been diagnosed with ADHD. Again, we see a higher prevalence of people in our industry than in the general population. But, when we look at people who have ADHD or another type of neurodivergence, we can start to see that neurodivergence is just another personality or behavioural trait – or even a superpower. Greta Gerwig, the Director of the recent Barbie film, has ADHD (as does Richard Branson and Mia Freeman), Bill Gates has Dyscalculia (he’s done fairly well for himself considering challenges with ‘maths’), and Agatha Christie was a pretty successful novelist for someone with Dysgraphia (a difficulty in spelling and getting thoughts onto paper).

With the number increasing in our industry, there’s a good chance you may have someone in your team who has (or is yet to be diagnosed with) neurodivergence. Do you know how to work with them? How to get the best out of them?

The neurodivergent participants in our study cited receiving positive recognition for work well done and that they’ve received support when experiencing challenging times outside of work. However, they’re more likely to experience having felt undervalued when compared to colleagues of equal competence, have felt that managers have restricted their opportunities to progress and have been made to feel uncomfortable due to who they are.

Our challenge to leaders and managers is to talk to these people in your team. Ask them how they like to work, how they handle pressure, and what types of tasks bring the best out of them. Ultimately, we know ourselves the best, so if you experience any of these neurodivergent conditions then you’re best placed to share with your manager what you need to be at your best. This podcast is a great resource for both employee and employer. If you’d like to engage in further education and training in Australia, then also reach out to Beth Wallach who does great work in this space.

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ARE Generational differences affecting our ability to address problems with mental wellbeing?

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In previous studies, we observed differences in mental well-being between younger and older participants. In this latest study, we found more significant differences. Anxiety was noticed in 41% of participants aged 29 years or younger, displaying signs of moderate to extremely severe anxiety, compared to 31% of participants over 40 years old.

This phenomenon affects broader society and has been attributed to everything from climate change to technology, social media, and, of course, the recent pandemic. The societal and geo-political pressures on gen-z are greater than those experienced by gen-x and baby boomers. This has been discussed extensively and is well documented.

“Research indicates Gen Z are emerging as the most stressed demographic in the workplace, and struggling mightily to cope. The same data shows un-manageable stress affects almost a quarter of the Gen Z respondents (23%), and almost all (98%) are dealing with symptoms of burnout.”

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20230215-are-gen-z-the-most-stressed-generation-in-the-workplace

This article from the BBC continues,

“For university-aged Gen Zers, many were forced to finish their degrees in isolating, fully virtual learning environments during the pandemic, only to transition directly into a precarious economic situation and unusual workplace conditions, complete with the threat – and often, the reality – of furlough or redundancy.”

In his book, “The Anxious Generation,” Nicolas Haidt cites numerous research studies on the anxiety levels affecting younger people. One statistic referenced is the sharp increase in mental health-related hospitalisations in Australia since 2010 (81% for girls and 51% for boys – Australia’s Health 2022 Data Insights).

It’s this backdrop that helps to provide context when evaluating responses across different generations in our own study.

Older participants show more signs of stress from work. They agreed more strongly with statements like their job tends to directly affect their health and the problems associated with their job have kept them awake at night. Younger participants show more significant signs of overall anxiety. For example, using a lot of nervous energy, experiencing difficulty in breathing, and feeling scared without good reason. Some depression symptoms were also significantly higher. They were more likely than over 40-year-olds to feel that life was meaningless, and found it difficult to work up the initiative to do things.

For younger people to thrive and do their best at work against this backdrop, they need clarity, structure, meaning and a good understanding of their opportunities to progress and the steps involved to get there. This isn’t demanding; it just demands that we run good professional businesses with guidance for managers and leaders on how to manage and lead.

On a broader scale, this can also be manifested by businesses showing that they actually do care about their people. A number of respondents shared that they’d like to see a little more walking the walk, not just talking the talk.

Indeed, when businesses were seen to put their people first, we observed only 23-24% showing signs of medium to severe anxiety or depression vs 45% and 41% that showed signs of medium to severe depression and anxiety, respectively, if they were to prioritise profit. Some of this perception can be improved by how leaders react to bad behaviour, which became one of the top 5 criteria that respondents believed could improve mental wellbeing at work.

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Signs of poorer mental health in non-white, non-cis-gendered respondents.

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Our study failed to reach a statistically significant proportion of respondents who did not identify as caucasian or cis-gendered. Of those who did, the signs of much higher levels of anxiety and depression were very noticeable. While the sample was small we still conducted analysis to uncover any patterns that might help to explain those symptoms or at least what they may have been experiencing for them to feel this way.

In order to conduct the analysis, we created groups of participants with particular traits. For example, the more common characteristics that we saw, male/female, white, heterosexual, were used to compare with other groups such as:

• male, white, non-heterosexual, not in leadership
• non-male, non-white, heterosexual, not in leadership; and
• non-male, non-white, non-heterosexual, not in leadership.

Firstly, we noticed quite different levels of anxiety and depression. For example, 22% of male, white, heterosexual leaders showed signs of medium to extremely severe anxiety, compared with 39% of non-male, non-white heterosexuals who were not in a leadership position and 52% if that mix changed to be non-heterosexual as well.

Similar trends were observed for how much control people stated they had over what they did at work. The further the traits stretched from cis-gendered, white leadership, the less control people felt – and we know from WHO research that this can affect mental well-being at work.

These signs that the non-white members of our industry aren’t fairing as well were also highlighted in the Advertising Council’s ‘Create Space’results released earlier this year. The report quoted that:

“Regarding asian ethnicity, you are four times more likely to experience discrimination based on your ethnicity – 26% of those identifying as being an ethnic minority are likely to leave their company due to a lack of inclusion or due to discrimination.”

For all the talk of a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, it would seem that this is still very much a long-term project that cannot be dismissed, especially as we recorded respondents wishing to see more diverse people in leadership as one of their top three systemic changes to improve mental well-being.

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Progress in literacy and action

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While it’s clear we need to support a significant number of people in our industry to manage their mental health, it’s encouraging how many of us proactively seek help. More than two-thirds of respondents with medium to extremely severe levels of anxiety were actively seeking help at their workplace, whether via a colleague, manager or provided professional support program / system (and nearly all were seeking other forms of help outside of work).

With so many people seeking help from colleagues it requires businesses to ensure that the appropriate resources, education and supports are in place. Mental Health First Aid is a great initiative to achieve this and ensure that people are prepared to have the conversation should someone come to them in confidence. In Australia, you can reach out to

Chloe Hooper from Bare Feat for Mental Health First Aid training that’s engaging and relevant to our industry.

In past studies, we’ve witnessed a gap in the perceived prioritisation of mental well-being in workplaces and the effectiveness of strategies that are put in place to address it. An encouraging finding in this wave showed that this gap had reduced significantly and that if a business was seen to prioritise mental well-being, it was almost just as likely to be effective in its strategies and tactics.

This respondent gave the best example of what that actually means and how mental well-being isn’t necessarily an ‘obvious checklist.’

“All of our managers are mental health first aiders, we invest heavily in salary benchmarking and in pay equity efforts, we have a social impact and belonging committee to drive important initiatives, we do twice annual performance reviews to ensure consistent and meaningful feedback.”

Male, 46, Leader, Marketing Technology Business.

When you consider the link between justice, feeling included, getting clear and constructive feedback and mental well-being, it’s easy to argue the likely success and effectiveness of the strategies in the business above. Of course, we can’t just committee and policy our way to success, but what a great start.

Respondents continued to emphasise what they wanted to see to improve mental health outcomes for individuals (the % scores represent those who agreed the statements were absolutely essential).

• Empathetic, educated leaders (69%)
• Leaders who lead by example (64%)
• Appropriate company resources to deliver work (56%)
• Clear objectives (53%)
• Deal effectively with bad behaviour from employees / stakeholders (53%)

Once again, these top 5 represent good practices for running a business, not necessarily what you expect from a ‘mental health strategy.’

When considering a more systemic perspective of what could be improved, respondents were keen to see a change in processes and better ways of working. It’s worth considering this against the backdrop of such technological change in our industry and the demands that have been placed on people as a result. Less time to create, more outputs to create, quicker reaction to briefs and consumer / competitor activity – and yet the processes and business models we operate arguably haven’t changed as quickly or as significantly.

Imbalanced power in relationships between the buyer and seller also remains.

Setting boundaries with clients. We tend to be stuck in the middle and cop the brunt of a lot of pressures - client-side and publisher-side - and there is a culture of ensuring we meet everyone's needs all the time, but not our own.

Female, 25, Media Agency

Each of our studies has always found references to the client-agency relationship. While each of these businesses, in their own right, may have strategies to improve mental well-being, we did not find evidence that extended these strategies to third-party relationships.

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Will legislation be the ultimate trigger for wider spread action?

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In 2023, new Work Health and Safety (WHS) regulations addressing psychosocial hazards in the workplace took effect. These regulations, developed by Safe Work Australia, aim to promote psychological and social well-being among employees.

The regulations provide clearer guidance for employers on managing psychosocial hazards, which are factors that could cause psychological harm, such as bullying, sexual harassment, aggression, exposure to traumatic events, high or low job demands, lack of support, poor organizational justice, unclear roles, challenging environmental conditions, remote work, inadequate change management, lack of recognition and reward, and poor workplace relationships.

You can find a model code of practice produced by Safe Work Australia here. The highest profile case brought against an employer thus far is this example in Victoria. The industry is different, but the examples cited are still relevant.

Despite the legislation being in place for more than 12 months, 51% of leaders in our survey were unaware of the new regulations and only slightly more than 1 in 5 had a clear plan in place.

At this point in time, it appears like businesses are feeling their way into an approach.

“Some internal tools used for specific risks but little communication on organisational minimisation or improvement framework.”

”We intuitively operate in a way that avoids or deals with these hazards, however we do not have a formal plan or policy in place to identify or act on them.”

But I think we can guarantee that the approach below won’t be effective.

“They’re actually ignoring staff who point out that they’re failing the legislative standards.”

When presenting these results and discussing the topic of psychosocial safety the focus very quickly turns to risk management, assessment and comparisons with being visited by work health and safety inspectors on a building site. This isn’t the case for psychosocial risk assessment, but if risks are reported and not actioned then a visit could certainly be on the cards.

However, it can be avoided by following the Safe Work Australia guidance alongside some of the learnings from our research. There are also focused consultants in this space with a good understanding of our industry, Martine Beaumont of Select Wellness and Virginia Scully of Human Kind Collective.

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Where to from here?

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Towards the end of our questionnaire this year, we asked, “What do you consider to be the most important thing that needs to change for the industry to become more mentally healthy?” In the past, this question has surfaced in the age-old conundrum of the client-agency relationship. It’s clear that the pressures surrounding this dynamic are still as prevalent today.

”Pressure is placed on our people because of the unrealistic pressure our clients place on us as an industry. Our clients are reducing margins and timeframes, with the expectations that agencies will deliver more for less within less lead times. The demand for transparency means it is difficult for agencies to make a strong margin. This then adds pressure on agencies to place pressure on their staff to meet client deliverables. We need to open the dialogue up with our clients.”

The way both parties respond to this could make a difference in a number of ways. By showing that people are as important as profit, by supporting and standing up for their employees, by calling out and addressing bad behaviour, and by changing systems and models of engagement. These have all rated highly among our research and correlate with better levels of mental health for people working in our industry.

To categorise the approach for the future, we can look to address 4 key areas.

• Systems
• Attitudes
• Professionalism; and
• Culture

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SYSTEMS

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Advocate for industry change - action, don’t just add to the noise.‍

Examples like the above are nothing new. The idea of stopping free pitching is nothing new. Addressing abusive behaviour head-on (and not via NDA) is nothing new. Calls for changing the pricing model from time and materials is nothing new. Yet commentary, articles, and petitions still arise on a regular basis. Unfortunately, it will continue to be nothing more than noise until we all work together to turn that noise into action. The opportunity exists for our industry to work together as a community, not just as competitors.

Evaluate short vs long-term success factors.

If you work in this industry, you’ll often be faced with the feeling of constantly fighting fires, of responding when asked, “How’s work?”, “Busy.” It’s like if we’re not in this constant state, we’re not successful, or we’re not adding value. Navigating this constant need to be sprinting and ticking off tasks on the never-ending To-Do list isn’t a good measure of success. Many times, the mentally-healthy presentation has been requested by teams and businesses, and many times, it’s presented at a monthly wrap-up or town hall. On more than one occasion, it has come after handing out staff awards for “doing 3 weekends in a row on the xxxxx pitch” or “working till midnight on cracking the idea for xxxxx.” These are all short-term success measures, and they reward the kind of behaviour that makes long-term success unachievable. If we want to see long-term success in our businesses and our teams, we need to create and track measures that we want to see more of, not leave our people clamouring for recognition by burning out… again.

Evaluate your business model debt.

Organisational debt is a term adapted from the software world (technical debt) and popularised by consulting firm The Ready, among others. It refers to the systems and processes created by an organisation over time in response to problems that no longer exist or that were stop-gaps for bigger problems but were never resolved or returned to. Sound familiar? Have you ever said, “Yes, I know we were going to work on this differently, but let’s just get this one out of the way and do it the new way next time?” Addressing these in your business shows people that you listen, care about making things better, and can address their concerns.

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ATTITUDES

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Make understanding each other a project, not a luxury.

As we saw in our analysis, generational differences and intersectional differences show how many people can feel not included, misunderstood, or that they don’t belong. Many employers will promote their DE&I policies or their Great Place To Work award, but the reality is there still seems to be significant ground to cover in making workplaces truly inclusive. Inclusive of different genders, different backgrounds, beliefs and even different ways of thinking and doing. No one is saying that you have to go and learn about every different variable – but there is no excuse for not listening to your people, validating them by asking them what they need – and then working with them to put it (or something very close to it that works for you and them) in place.

Don’t assume someone is lazy, incompetent, or just doesn’t fit.

The commentary aimed at new entrants to our industry, and Gen Z in general, is very quickly writing off a new generation of talent before they’ve started. As we shared, the backdrop of life for a graduate in the 2020s is very different to the 2000’s. Plus, no matter someone’s generation label, behaviours associated with anxiety and depression can too easily be misinterpreted as laziness, slap-dashedness or poor performance - but could also be responses to poor management, badly explained instructions or lack of fairness. It may take a few more minutes, but search beyond the symptoms, and you may unlock a person ready to thrive in their role. A much cheaper and more rewarding exercise than running through yet another recruitment process and onboarding.

Seek advice, sense-checks and be open to feedback.

You’re not expected to have all the answers. But you can recognise that and be a constant work in progress. Check your biases, read, watch and listen to different points of view and different lived experiences. Seek feedback rather than wait for it. Act on it rather than dismiss it. Here’s a list of books and podcasts that can help to build the empathy muscle and help to connect with the likely wide variety of different people around you.

• The Wake Up, by Michelle MiJung Kim
• Can’t Even, by Anne Helen Petersen
• The Anxious Generation, by Jonathan Haidt
• Just Work, by Kim Scott
• The Anxious Achiever podcast
• Don’t take the Exit on people TED Talk by Justin Jones-Fosu
• White Men: Time to Discover Your Cultural Blind Spots TED Talk by Michael Welp

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PROFESSIONALISM

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Understand your responsibilities as an employer, leader, manager, colleague - make your job about people and business.

The legislation changes in Australia and to varying extents across the world mean that professionalising workplaces is more important than ever. Professionalising, in this sense, doesn’t just mean knowing your tax rates, pension or super contributions, and government-provided parental leave. It means creating processes for clear feedback, appropriate support for different needs that team members may require, dealing with bad behaviour in a timely and effective manner, and managing workload in a way that is tolerable and sustainable.

Identify and take action against the risks in your business.

Start by identifying the risks to psychological safety in your workplace. They may be people-based, process-based, or perhaps content-based. The act of doing so already shows that you care about the health of your people and that you're working towards the requirement of legislation.

Provide progression plans and clear feedback.

Hopefully, you’ve seen by now that an effective mental health strategy is actually just an effective people development strategy. Providing pathways for progression, designing regular feedback loops and keeping track of and recognising progress leads to more meaningful and rewarding experiences at work. Overheard on a recent podcast, a guest referred to the concept of finding meaning at work, “We don’t necessarily want a solo; we just want to know what role we play in the choir.”

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CULTURE

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We’ve been careful to point out in past research commentary that culture isn’t a foosball table and a free bar, and it seems, as an industry, we’re now going deeper than that. But there are still some watch-outs…

Create cultures of openness and embrace difference but only when you’ve provided education and clarification on what respect looks like.

All the best intentions do not immediately translate into creating the perfect working environment for a culture of transparency and inclusivity. Suddenly disclosing a mental illness or a personal story of adversity, or a sexual preference can be met with judgement or dismissal if the guidelines for respect and validation haven’t been set. To have an ambition of a diverse and inclusive culture is exactly what we need in our industry. Not just for happier, healthier workplaces, but also because of the links to better outcomes, more creative solutions and more productive work results. We just need to make sure that everyone is ready for it first.

Act quickly to praise the right behaviours and squash poor behaviour.

As referenced earlier in this report, how leaders and businesses respond to poor behaviour sets a standard for how people will be treated at work. How the business is perceived to prioritise people or profit can make a significant difference to the psychological piece of mind and safety that employees can feel – or, importantly, not feel. This could be reacting quickly to support an employee who has been disrespected by an external party or showing that you’ve helped with support, resources and referrals in the face of inevitable redundancies.

Listen, engage and walk the walk.

Finally, we need to turn all of our good intentions, company speeches, updates and announcements, and all staff emails into tangible action. The anecdotes and open-ended responses in this study show signs of feeling jaded, feeling tired that this research is still necessary, is continuing to raise questions that still aren’t being answered.

”Talk about solutions or some general source for support and information. I feel positive that there is more awareness around mental health but not always action being taken.”

”That action is taken, I have seen this far too often that our industry talks about this but it's just a token gesture no real action is ever taken to address this.“

”Leaders need to be more open-minded, lead by example, and value the people.”

We have more insight into this challenge than ever before. We have more opportunity, more expectation and more permission to get this right than ever before. If this research sparks more questions than answers, then that is fine. If it validates ideas that you’ve already had – then please take it and use it to create a better outcome for your peers and teams. If you’re unsure of what to do next, then speak to others – others like you, others competing with you, others who share an interest in being better. And reach out to us; we’d be happy to discuss, present to you and your teams and see how we can support you in helping to create a mentally-healthier industry.

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