Safe In Our World talks to NME on BAFTA Summit

Safe In Our World have been featured in NME about our recent Mental Health Summit in collaboration with BAFTA.

Our Charity Director, Sarah Sorrell, chats to Andy Brown of NME Gaming and Luke Hebblethwaite of BAFTA about the importance of hosting spaces to focus on mental health within the games industry.

People will tell you that they twisted their ankle when they were gardening on Saturday,” says Sorrell. “They won’t tell you they were awake on Saturday night with crippling anxiety. That’s the bit we need to change and make a natural topic of conversation — practical change is something we are desperate to do within our industry.

The Summit tackled a number of different prevalent topics within the games industry, including more sustainable working practices, avoiding crunch culture, embracing representation and diversity, neurodiversity and more.

The first of many talks from the day is now available to watch on BAFTA’s YouTube channel. Watch below to see Shahid‘s talk on how to build resilience and break out of your comfort zone.

Working an employee those kinds of long hours is never going to work out in the long term — they’re going to hit burnout, and they’re going to leave,” says Sorrell. “That’s a massive mistake that has been happening in our industry, which we really need to address.

“What we’re here to do is keep that momentum going, keep that conversation going, and keep reducing the stigma that does still exist in our industry around mental health,” Sorrell urges. “It’s an invisible illness, isn’t it? So we’ve got to keep talking about it — because people can’t see what you feel.”

We are happy to see such a wonderful reception to the first Mental Health Games Summit between Safe In Our World and BAFTA, and hope to see a continued enthusiasm for mental health in our industry as we move forwards.