Health, Wellbeing & Safeguarding

Health, Wellbeing & Safeguarding

Mental Health/Resilience, Rejection, Physical Fatigue, Access Statements/Needs, Risk Assessments, Intimacy Co-ordinators, and Social Media Management.

Introduction:

Supporting a child who models or performs professionally can be exciting, rewarding and sometimes emotionally demanding. This section explores ways to support your child’s mental and physical wellbeing, manage the highs and lows of the industry, and understand the safeguarding measures that help keep young performers safe.

We look at topics including rejection, confidence, fatigue, nutrition, access needs, risk assessments, social media safety and informed consent.

Creative work can be a hugely positive experience for children, but it can also be a high-pressure environment. Your role as a parent or carer is to be your child’s safe person — the adult who prioritises their wellbeing, health, education and happiness above any role, audition or opportunity.

 

Protecting the Parent-Child Relationship

When a parent helps manage a child’s professional career, it can sometimes become difficult to separate the role of parent from the role of manager.

Here are some things to think about while your child is working professionally:

Keep the Relationship Safe: Children need to know that your love, pride and support are not dependent on bookings, callbacks or successful auditions.

Try to keep the focus on:

• effort rather than outcome
• enjoyment rather than achievement
• growth rather than comparison

Celebrate the experience, not just the result.

 

Parent vs Chaperone

If you are also working as your child’s chaperone, be mindful that this can blur professional boundaries.

An independent approved  chaperone’s primary responsibility is your child’s welfare — even when this conflicts with production pressures, schedules or commercial priorities. This can sometimes be harder to navigate when you are both parent and chaperone.

 

Avoiding “Conditional Success”

After difficult auditions, cancellations or disappointing feedback, children need reassurance that their value does not depend on industry success.

Simple reminders such as “I’m proud of how you handled that” or “I love you whether you book the job or not” can make a huge difference.

 

Mental Wellbeing

• Managing Nerves: Many children feel nervous before auditions, rehearsals or filming days. Your child will often take cues from your emotional state.
  • Helpful strategies may include: simple breathing exercises, familiar routines, bringing a comfort item or calming activity, talking openly about nerves as a normal part of performing
  •  The British Association for Performing Arts Medicine (BAPAM) offers resources on managing performance anxiety.
     
• Building Resilience & Handling Rejection:  Rejection is a normal — and often frequent — part of professional performance work.
  • “Not getting the job” does not necessarily reflect talent, effort or ability. Casting decisions can be based on age, height, appearance, chemistry, timing or factors entirely outside your child’s control.
  • Help children separate their identity from casting outcomes.
  • Spotlight’s Wellbeing Hub provides tools for handling the "No."
     
• Post-Project Blues: The end of a project can bring mixed emotions. Children may miss castmates, routine, excitement or creative stimulation. Common experiences include:
  • low mood
  • Tiredness
  • Irritability
  • feeling “flat” after a busy project
     
• Planning downtime, normal routines and reconnection with school, hobbies and friends can help ease the transition.
   
• The Film and TV Charity’s Looking Glass Report highlights the long-term mental health risks if this transition isn't managed.
   
• Adult or Sensitive Subject Matter: Always ask for clear information about challenging themes, emotional content, physical contact, costume expectations or difficult scenes.
  • Children should understand — in an age-appropriate way — what they are being asked to do before consent can be considered meaningful.

 

Agency, Power & The Right to Say “No”

Children should know they have the right to:

• ask questions
• express discomfort
• request clarification
• say “stop”
• take breaks
• change their mind if something feels unsafe or overwhelming

 

Informed Consent

If a child cannot understand what they are being asked to do, informed consent has not been achieved.

Productions should be able to explain scenes, expectations and boundaries in clear, age-appropriate language.

Further resources on informed consent and speaking up will be included in future updates.

 

Physical Health & On-Set Safety

• Fatigue Management: PACT (Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television) sets out standard industry guidelines for working hours and breaks for young people to prevent burnout.
  • Professional work can involve travel, waiting, disrupted routines and long days.
  • Watch for signs of fatigue such as:
    • emotional dysregulation
    • Headaches
    • Irritability
    • difficulty concentrating
    • increased anxiety
       
• Nutrition and Hydration: On-set catering may not always meet your child’s needs. Consider bringing familiar snacks that you know your child will like.
   
• If your child is unwell:An unwell child should not be expected to “push through.”
  • Illness, exhaustion or injury can affect wellbeing, performance quality and the safety of others around them.
    • Follow the NHS/GOV.UK guidance on common illnesses.
       
• Injury & Safety Professionals:
  • Stunt Coordinators: No stunt should be performed without oversight from a professional from the JIGS Stunt Register.
  • Intimacy Coordinators: For scenes involving physical contact, emotional themes or sensitive material, trained professionals can help ensure clear boundaries, communication and safeguarding.
    •  For contact or sensitive scenes, refer to the Intimacy Practitioners’ Guild standards to ensure boundaries are respected.

 

Inclusion: SEND and Access Needs

Children with SEND, disabilities or additional needs have the right to appropriate support and reasonable adjustments.

• Reasonable Adjustments: Under the Equality Act 2010, productions must make changes to ensure children with SEND are not disadvantaged. Equity’s Guide for D/deaf and Disabled Members is a valuable resource here.
   
• Access Riders are vitally important documents. There is a guide to how to write them here.

 

Concerns and Safeguarding: How to Speak Up and Who to Speak To

If something feels wrong, trust your instincts.

• The Chaperone: Your first port of call.
   
• The DSL: Ask for the Designated Safeguarding Lead's contact details on day one.
   
• The Local Authority: Report concerns or breaches to the council that issued the licence.
   
• Equity Union: Contact the Young Members’ Committee for support.
   
• The Film and TV Charity: Offers a 24/7 support line: 0800 054 0000.
   
• NNCEE: Report a concern on the website http://nncee.org.uk/report-concerns

 

Useful Support Resources

• NSPCC Learning: Child safeguarding training.
• BAPAM: Specialist healthcare and mental health support for performers.