Gaming Mental Health Charity Safe In Our World and BAFTA Announce Second Games Mental Health Summit

Gaming mental health charity Safe In Our World has announced a second games Mental Health Summit in conjunction with BAFTA.

The first Summit was held last July and featured speakers like Hellblade mental health consultant Paul Fletcher, games/citizen-sleeper”>Citizen Sleeper game designer Gareth Damian Martin, and games/returnal”>Returnal actor Jane Perry, who provided the voice of that game’s main character Selene.

This year’s is being held on June 3rd and will, according to games-mental-health-summit-2024/” rel=”noopener” target=”_blank”>an official announcement, focus on “driving change”. It will address topics like “compassionate leadership, burnout, toxicity and harassment, and how to enact change in the workplace”.

games-mental-health-summit.jpg?itok=1rtrhZox 1x” media=”(min-width: 992px)” type=”image/jpeg”/>games-mental-health-summit.jpg?itok=r5tV2-lg 1x” media=”(max-width: 991px)” type=”image/jpeg”/>games-mental-health-summit.jpg?itok=r5tV2-lg” alt=”Selene looking at a squid monster amid a verdant grassy landscape in Returnal, a game whose lead actress was featured at last year’s Safe In Our World and BAFTA mental health summit” typeof=”foaf:Image”/>

Safe In Our World and BAFTA haven’t disclosed who will be speaking at this year’s event, but the mental health charity has promised “a mix of keynotes, panels, workshops, and roundtables” delivered by “industry professionals and mental health clinicians”.

BAFTA head of games Luke Hebblethwaite says the goal of the games Mental Health Summit is to “continue to drive forward conversation and tangible action” in the gaming industry surrounding mental health.

For her part, Safe In Our World charity director Sarah Sorrell says events like this are important for the gaming industry as they’re aimed at “fostering a healthier and more sustainable industry”, something that’s arguably becoming even more important among discussions of crunch culture and extensive layoffs.

The summit will take place in London at BAFTA’s Piccadilly venue, and you can grab tickets right now if you think you’ll be able to attend (although the event is primarily intended for folks who work within the gaming industry).

If you can’t attend the summit physically, however, don’t worry, as keynotes and panels from the event will also be available to view via the official BAFTA YouTube channel, just like last year’s.

We’ll likely learn more about exactly who will be speaking at this year’s games Mental Health Summit in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for more.