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Home / Our mission
Our mission and story
Our mission
The Whole Picture Toolkit – brought to you by the Film and TV Charity – is dedicated to helping productions put mental health and wellbeing centre stage, and to building a happier, healthier industry.
We want you to see the whole picture when it comes to managing the mental health and wellbeing of production teams.
Let’s redefine our working culture, one production at a time, to make the film and TV industry a place where everyone feels respected, valued and supported.
The Whole Picture Toolkit story
2019: The Looking Glass survey
The Whole Picture Toolkit was developed in response to the findings of the Charity’s 2019 Looking Glass survey, which uncovered a mental health crisis in the film and TV industry.
The survey found that 9 in 10 people working behind the scenes had experienced a mental health issue, and half had considered taking their own lives.
The report’s statistics highlighted industry-wide problems, with working conditions and culture – such as long hours, job insecurity, bullying, harassment and discrimination – as well as with leadership’s capability to provide sufficient support.
2020: The Whole Picture Programme
Following the Looking Glass research, the Charity invited industry leaders to form the Film and TV Taskforce on Mental Health to co-create and co-fund a programme of work to tackle the mental health crisis.
Led by the Taskforce, the Whole Picture Programme was founded in October 2020 – supported by leading industry organisations – and its Let’s Reset behaviour change campaign was unveiled during Mental Health Awareness Week in October 2021.
2022: The Whole Picture Toolkit
In March 2022, the Whole Picture Toolkit website was launched as part of this initiative, to give productions the tools they need to start improving working environments and the industry’s wider approach to mental health.
Our Toolkit is a free, online resource that offers expert guides, templates, and examples of industry best practice, to help productions embed wellbeing at every stage of a production.
2024: evolving the picture
Only 12% of respondents to the 2024 Looking Glass survey said the industry is a mentally healthy place to work.
But, positively, people who recalled working on a production using the Whole Picture Toolkit gave better ratings for their mental health and had a higher awareness of good practices and available support services.
Detailed analysis of the survey responses is currently underway and the full report will be published in early 2025.
However, it’s clear that mental health continues to be a fundamental and damaging issue for too many people in the industry. It’s time to take the Whole Picture Toolkit to a whole new level.
Get started with our Toolkit today
Our contributors
The Whole Picture Toolkit has been designed and built in collaboration with industry, mental health, HR, legal, and health and safety experts.
During its development, we established a coalition of industry changemakers – leaders and trailblazing individuals who worked closely with us on progressing and trialling the Toolkit – who see action to support mentally healthy productions as representing real, positive change.
Our industry experts – representing various genres and productions – included freelancers as well as company employees, those with experience of poor mental health, and a diverse range of people from groups that can face additional barriers in the sector.
The Toolkit team also collaborated with the UK’s leading mental health charity, Mind, to co-design the written resources within the kit.
Our Toolkit is endorsed and co-funded by UK broadcasters including the BBC, BBC Studios, Channel 4, ITV, Sky, Disney, Banijay, IMG Media, Warner Bros. Discovery, Apple TV, Amazon and Paramount.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed their time and talent to helping us champion mentally healthy productions.
About the Film and TV Charity
Since 1924, the Film and TV Charity has been there to support everyone working behind the scenes in film, TV and cinema, thanks to the generosity of individuals and organisations from across the industry.
The Whole Picture Toolkit is just one of the ways that the Film and TV Charity is seeking to change things for the better.
As well as providing a listening ear through the free 24/7 Film and TV Support Line, the Charity also offers financial advice and numerous resources to support mental wellbeing.
Brought to you by 
This toolkit is created by people within the industry to help you place mental health at the heart of your production, whatever size it is or stage you’re at.