Equiflash Archive

The Equity Mental Health & Wellness Survey was conceived as an outreach and research project to gather information about the nature and prevalence of mental health issues within Equity’s membership.

Survey questions were developed in collaboration with Equity’s Mental Health and Wellness Task Force, with input from mental health and social work professionals. An external market research firm (R.A. Malatest & Associates Ltd.) was engaged to execute the survey.

In November 2019, Equity sent out invitations to members in good standing (5,617 members) to participate in the survey. When the survey closed after three weeks, 2,170 members had submitted responses (a return rate of 38.6%) either online, by phone, or in hardcopy.

Equity is now happy to share the final report with members. The report is presented in three parts: a Summary, the Full Data Set, and Appendices. Data gathered from the survey highlights many of the challenges familiar to Equity members:

• the stresses of uncertain work
• the lack of stability from needing to go where the work is
• the demands of industry work (and our not-always-healthy ways of coping with stress)
• the lingering concerns around talking about mental health
• the obstacles that exist for finding and accessing mental health support

Council committees are already using the survey data to inform their work in different areas - be they discipline-specific issues or focused on sectoral change.

The Equity Mental Health & Wellness Survey Report will continue to underpin action and advocacy to help artists sustain better health in their challenging careers.