Welfare Consultancy
Our Role
We collaborate with leadership and teams to implement proactive strategies that foster open communication, collaboration, and mutual support—ensuring all members of your organisation can thrive in a workplace that prioritises wellbeing. Our welfare consultancy services include comprehensive assessments of your current practices, using data-driven insights to identify gaps and provide evidence-based recommendations. Through in-depth evaluations, staff feedback, and best-practice benchmarking, we tailor solutions that align with your organisation’s unique needs. Whether improving day-to-day operations or supporting critical project milestones, we help you cultivate a positive and psychologically safe workplace that promotes mental health, reduces stress, and prevents burnout.
Beyond initial implementation, we offer ongoing support, including training, workshops, and strategic guidance to ensure lasting cultural change. Our goal is to create sustainable systems that prioritise employee wellbeing, fostering a workplace where individuals and teams can reach their full potential.
How we do it
Led by our founder, Lauren, we have pioneered the role of a Welfare Consultant within the Creative Industries. Our mission is to support senior managers and producers in recognising and fulfilling their moral, legal, and financial responsibilities to uphold exceptional standards of care for their teams.
We provide tailored solutions such as organisation-wide Welfare Training, bespoke support informed by audits and reviews, and strategic guidance for long-term improvements. For example, our bespoke support is shaped by detailed audits that pinpoint specific challenges within your team, allowing us to create solutions that improve both individual wellbeing and team dynamics. Working with us minimises the negative impacts of illness on individuals and organisations, fostering a supportive, nurturing, and positive workplace culture for everyone.
Why we do it
At PlayWell, we view preventative care as more than just a set of policies—it is a strategic imperative for fostering a positive working culture. Preventative care has the potential to create a greater impact on people’s health and wellbeing than reactive measures. It helps individuals feel safe, respected, and heard, while building cultures where people can thrive. This, in turn, enables creativity, experimentation, and boldness. Crucially, this approach recognises that care is a collective responsibility.
With support from Arts Council England and the Mayor’s Office at the Greater London Authority, we conducted a research project to explore the need for preventative care and support within the creative industries, aiming to better understand the current landscape.
Our research reveals that most people feel that stressful working conditions—such as rushed timelines, low and delayed pay, precarious contracts, and systemic abuses of power—negatively affect their mental health. While the creative industries widely acknowledge these issues, many organisations continue to perpetuate such practices, fail to support their workers, or even recognise the need for change.
How can we bridge this gap between what we know as individuals and how we act as a community?
Read more in our report below:
Case Study: Welfare Department at Pleasance Theatre
Since the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Playwell has partnered with Pleasance Theatre to establish a dedicated Welfare Department, launching a pioneering initiative in performer and staff wellbeing. Over six weeks, we provide vital mental health and wellbeing support to more than 700 performers, staff, and volunteers, ensuring they feel supported in one of the most demanding creative environments.
Our comprehensive services include on-site and online counselling clinics, personalised welfare check-ins, and emergency support for trauma and burnout. By addressing a wide range of challenges—from pre-existing mental health conditions to situational stressors—we foster a supportive environment that empowers participants to thrive under the pressures of the festival.
The response is overwhelmingly positive, with participants reporting significant improvements in their ability to manage stress, sustain energy, and remain engaged throughout the festival. This initiative not only sets a new benchmark for welfare support in the arts but also demonstrates the necessity of long-term, structured mental health support in the creative sector.
Building on this success, Playwell and Pleasance Theatre are committed to expanding and refining this programme for future festivals, exploring ways to provide year-round resources and extend our reach to even more artists and industry professionals.
Clients include
“Prevention in mental health aims to reduce the incidence, prevalence, and recurrence of mental health disorders and their associated disability. Preventive interventions are based on modifying risk exposure and strengthening the coping mechanisms of the individual.”
Mental Health Foundation: Prevention Review Paper
” By embedding preventative mental health care in workplace mental health models, employers have a significant opportunity to change the conversation.”
Forbes: Embedding Preventative Mental Health Care In The Workplace
“Preventative mental health care must be more than a set of initiatives; it must be considered as part of the overall organizational strategy. This includes a holistic approach to workforce wellbeing which begins with the management team and encompasses emotional, physical, social and financial wellbeing. The fact is, there is no health without mental health.”
Gareth Staglin: One Mind at Work
If you’re interested in how our Welfare Consultancy can help to support your organisation
Contact us
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