Touring and Mental Health: How to Build Resilience On and Off the Road
For many performers, crew, and creative teams, touring is a career highlight — a chance to bring work to new audiences, travel across regions, and share culture and creativity with the world. But behind the thrill of live shows and new cities is a much less talked-about reality: mental and emotional strain.
Touring can be exciting, but it’s also intense, disruptive, and isolating. It takes a toll on bodies, minds, and relationships — and without support, it can lead to serious burnout or longer-term mental health issues.
At Hey Mate, we support touring professionals across the country, helping organisations and individuals build resilience before, during, and after tours. Here’s what the research shows, what you can do to prepare, and how to ensure mental health stays centre stage.
The Mental Health Risks of Touring
Touring environments challenge nearly every aspect of wellbeing:
Unpredictable schedules and poor sleep
Separation from family and community
Financial pressure and insecure contracts
Physical exhaustion and repetitive strain
Creative burnout and emotional fatigue
Lack of routine or access to healthcare
A 2020 survey by Support Act found that:
66% of live performance workers experience high levels of psychological distress
54% reported poor sleep
Over 60% of musicians and touring crew had symptoms of anxiety and depression
More than 1 in 3 reported they had no access to mental health support
Meanwhile, research published by Entertainment Assist and Victoria University (2015) found:
Entertainment industry workers experience suicidal ideation six times more than the general population
Rates of moderate to severe anxiety were over 10 times higher
Depression was five times more prevalent
These statistics highlight a clear need for early intervention, psychological safety, and tailored support, particularly for workers in touring and transient roles.
What Makes Touring So Mentally Demanding?
While every tour is different, common pressure points include:
1.
Lack of Sleep and Recovery Time
Late-night shows, travel days, early call times, and inconsistent beds make quality sleep hard to maintain. Sleep deprivation significantly impacts mood regulation, cognition, and physical health.
2.
Physical Demands
From performing physically intense choreography to bumping in gear, the body is pushed daily — often with few rest days and limited access to physiotherapy or medical support.
3.
Isolation and Disconnection
Time away from loved ones, lack of routine, and limited opportunities for community connection can increase feelings of loneliness and exacerbate mental health challenges.
4.
Performance Pressure
Whether it’s stage fright, self-criticism, or the stress of keeping audiences engaged every night, touring places creatives under constant scrutiny.
5.
Financial and Job Insecurity
Touring jobs are often freelance or short-term contracts, with little job security, inconsistent income, and minimal access to superannuation, leave entitlements, or insurance.
Strategies for Building Resilience on Tour
Resilience isn’t about pushing through — it’s about planning, pacing, and protecting your wellbeing.
Before Tour: Set the Foundations
Pre-tour wellbeing workshops: Covering burnout prevention, mental health literacy, and coping strategies.
Check-ins and risk assessments: Identify potential stressors and develop personal wellbeing plans.
Peer support teams: Nominate wellbeing champions or trained mental health first aiders to travel with the team.
Travel smart: Include buffers in your schedule for downtime, meals, and decompression.
During Tour: Build Psychological Safety
Daily or weekly check-ins: Short debriefs to reflect, share challenges, and stay connected as a team.
Restorative practices: Gentle movement (stretching, yoga), mindfulness, or creative downtime to balance high-performance demands.
Access to support: Ensure all touring members know how to access Hey Mate or other mental health services.
Safe zones: Create quiet backstage areas or green rooms for rest and self-regulation.
Flexible leadership: Encourage empathy, communication, and adaptive planning from tour managers and producers.
After Tour: Debrief and Reintegrate
Post-tour check-in: Offer 1:1 sessions or peer circles to process the experience.
Reintegration planning: Support return to home life, relationships, and routines.
Fatigue and recovery: Share resources on physical rest, emotional recovery, and ongoing care.
Feedback loops: Collect learnings to improve wellbeing practices for future tours.
What Hey Mate Can Do For Touring Teams
Hey Mate offers specialised touring support as part of our creative industries EAP, including:
Virtual or on-the-road counselling access
Tour-specific wellbeing toolkits
Pre- and post-tour mental health check-ins
Training for managers and crew on mental health awareness
Critical incident response for team crises, loss, or trauma
Touring peer responder programs with Mental Health First Aid training
We also work alongside production companies, arts organisations, and festivals to integrate mental health planning into tour budgeting and logistics — not as an afterthought, but as a core part of professional practice.
Other Resources and Supports
Support Services
Support Act Wellbeing Helpline (24/7): 1800 959 500
Lifeline: 13 11 14
Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636
13YARN (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander support): 13 92 76
Practical Resources
Arts Wellbeing Collective Touring Toolkit
Performing Arts Touring Handbook (Australia Council)
Mental Health First Aid Australia – Creative-specific training
Grants and Financial Relief
Support Act Crisis Relief Grants
Australia Council Touring Grants
State-based arts and wellbeing funding
Musicians Australia and MEAA supports
It’s Time to Make Mental Health Part of the Rider
Touring isn’t going away — but burnout, anxiety, and disconnection don’t need to be part of the deal. When organisations and artists invest in mental health as part of production planning, they’re investing in people, sustainability, and the long-term health of the sector.
Let’s make mental wellbeing part of the touring culture, not the exception.
To find out how Hey Mate can support your next tour, reach out to us at:
Email: hello@heymateproject.org
Keywords: touring mental health, creative industries wellbeing, performing arts touring support, burnout prevention for artists, employee assistance for festivals, music tour mental health support, theatre crew wellbeing, peer support on tour
