Delivering Mental Health First Aid at Creative Australia
This month, Hey Mate wrapped up a month-long delivery of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training with the team at Creative Australia.
For us, this wasn’t just another training delivery.
It was a meaningful moment for the creative industries.
Creative Australia plays a central role in shaping the national arts landscape — through funding, policy guidance, investment strategy and sector leadership. The decisions made inside this organisation influence artists, producers, companies, festivals and communities across the country.
So when the national arts body invests in mental health capability, it sends a powerful message:
Wellbeing matters at the highest levels.
Why Mental Health First Aid Matters in the Creative Industries
Creative work is deeply meaningful — and often deeply demanding.
Across the sector, we regularly see:
Tight funding cycles and performance deadlines
Emotional labour in storytelling and assessment
Freelance instability and contract work
Touring and travel fatigue
Public scrutiny and reputational pressure
Small teams wearing many hats
At the same time, mental health conditions are one of the leading causes of long-duration workers’ compensation claims in Australia. Psychosocial risk is now firmly recognised within work health and safety obligations across most states.
Mental Health First Aid doesn’t turn managers into therapists.
It equips people with practical, evidence-based skills to:
Recognise early signs of common mental health challenges
Have safe, non-judgemental conversations
Respond calmly in moments of concern
Encourage appropriate professional support
Reduce stigma across teams
In creative workplaces — where vulnerability, passion and pressure often sit side by side — these skills are essential.
The Ripple Effect of Leadership
When mental health literacy is embedded at a national leadership level, the impact extends far beyond one office.
It influences:
How funding conversations are held
How assessment panels navigate emotionally complex material
How teams manage workload and deadlines
How psychologically safe environments are prioritised
How sector expectations evolve over time
Culture change doesn’t happen through policy alone.
It happens when people feel confident to notice, ask and respond.
We saw that confidence grow across the month — through thoughtful questions, engaged participation and real-world scenario discussions tailored to the creative context.
Strengthening the Sector from the Inside Out
Hey Mate was founded to support mental health in the creative industries not as an add-on, but as infrastructure.
We believe:
Healthy people create stronger work.
Psychologically safe teams build more sustainable careers.
Early intervention prevents crisis.
Leadership sets the tone.
Delivering MHFA to Creative Australia reflects a broader shift happening across the arts: wellbeing is no longer a side conversation. It’s a strategic priority.
And that’s something worth acknowledging.
What This Means for the Future
As psychosocial safety continues to evolve within Australian workplaces, creative organisations have an opportunity to lead — not just artistically, but culturally.
Training is one part of the puzzle. So is access to counselling, reflective debrief spaces, clear role expectations and sustainable workload planning.
The future of the creative industries depends on more than funding models and artistic excellence.
It depends on how well we care for the people doing the work.
We’re grateful to the team at Creative Australia for their openness and commitment to building mental health capability. And we’re proud to continue partnering with organisations across Australia who are ready to strengthen wellbeing from the inside out.
If your organisation is ready to build mental health literacy in your team, we’d love to talk.
