Four steps to a mentally healthy workplace

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In recent years, mental health in the games industry has become a major point of discussion. The growing conversation around it has started to destigmatise talking about mental health in the workplace and organisations are now becoming better equipped to help their staff.

Back in May, BAFTA and Safe In Our World held their first-ever Games Mental Health Summit. This was the first time I really noticed the conversation around mental health in games start to move from a reactive approach – one where games companies develop initiatives to help employees after the fact – to a proactive approach, one that looks deeper into the 'why' of the industry's mental health concerns.

Here, I make the case for the industry to adopt that holistic mindset and offer my own steps for game developers to take on their way to becoming truly healthy organisations.

The games industry needs a wholesale mindset change. Simple, right?

The end goal sounds intimidating, but the place to start is at the ground level; looking in the mirror at our own organisations and making an honest appraisal about how we perceive mental health.

What does this mean in practice? I often hear the phrase 'mental health issues', followed by a discussion about the role studios should play in supporting people that are already experiencing challenges. This limits you to a purely reactive mindset. We need to think about mental health in the same way as physical health.

For example, when people talk about getting fit, about reducing cholesterol, about how many steps they've clocked, they don't do it in hushed, serious tones. They talk about it in terms of getting healthier and happier. Mental