ACTUALISE [MENTAL] HEALTH
AND PERFORM AT YOUR BEST, SUSTAINABLY
“Anastasia’s work is life changing and life enhancing”
- Nicola Larder, Producer and Writer.
The Truth…
Depression is twice as likely to occur for performers than in the general population.
(Maxwell et al, 2025)52% of drama students and 60% of professional actors suffer from anxiety, compared to 19.1% of the general population.
(Searl et al, 2019) and (Brodsky, 2001)1/4 of all actors experience bullying or harrassment at work, with women thought to experience higher levels of sexual harrassment.
(The University of Sydney, 2022)Unstable work schedules, long working hours, time away from home and financial fears, matched with chronic exposure to the heavy emotional themes in many of the roles we play… and we have a perfect mental health storm for actors and performers.
And here is why:
It takes a certain kind of person to want to perform for a living…
A person who cares about and notices the predicaments faced by those around them. Who feels things deeply. A person who’s dedication to storytelling and reflecting the nature of humanity back to itself, so we all get to understand ourselves that little bit better, takes precedent over almost everything else…
It takes a highly sensitive person, who then steps into one of the most competitive and demanding work environments there is.
I work with actors, performers and creatives in the entertainment industry to ACTUALISE SUCCESS and ACT WELL, creating lasting health from the inside out. Together we build longterm wellbeing and success, personally and professionally, doing the job we set out to love.
Mental Health Matters…
For Actors and Performers…
“The mind is everything. What you think you become”
If we are to maximize our talent, impact and longevity in this business we must prioritise our mental wellbeing and emotional health along the way.
We know that our mental processes can radically dictate the quality of our lives, playing a huge role in not only our relationships, and energy levels but our physical health too. We now also know, given the role our mental health plays in our nervous system, that it impacts our ability to be creative, perform at our best and therefore our likeliness to succeed.
It is imperative that we actors and performers learn how to maintain good mental and emotional hygiene as a way of life. So that we can
Sustain self belief and confidence, doing the work that we were born to do, longterm
Avoid burn out from long hours and emotional exposure
Create resilience to uncertainty and change
… so we get to enjoy the ride along the way.
No doubt about it, the work we do and the environment we do it in is demanding: a lot balances on us being at the top of our game, showing up in truth and integrity while being the leaders our employers need us to be, but we are not taught how to take care of ourselves so we develop the capacity to meet these expectations. Burn out is rife in our industry, having detrimental affect on our own wellbeing, that of our loved ones, and/or well as the quality of our work.
The good news is the advances in modern psychology and somatic healing have provide us with highly effective, easy to implement solutions to support our mental, physical and spiritual health in longterm sustainable ways.
Making sure we have the self-love, tools, skills and strategies in place to ‘carry it all’ should not be considered a luxury, but considered part of the job and provided for as part of our training or professional contracts.
I am passionate about preparing aspiring performers and supporting seasoned professionals to thrive in this extraordinary business, and beyond.
I OFFER A FREE INVITE ONLY EVENT FOR ANYONE INTERESTED: CLICK LEARN MORE TO MESSAGE ME.
“This course was unlike any kind of therapy I have ever ventured. Most left me wondering where I was at, alone, sometimes utterly confused due to a lack of understanding, real support or actual tools to implement. Therapy had me in it’s grips for years.
We all want solutions to our problems with instant effect, we want immediate change, we want to progress out of the washing machine cycle… and it IS possible.”
- Karima McAdams, Actor
For Production Companies, Studios and Directors…
In 2019 a charity, Looking Glass, conducted a research project into mental health in the film and TV industry. The findings were pretty bleak, concluding that “there is a mental health crisis in the fiim and TV sector”. While this study included all departments of the film and TV industry, not only performers, it is clear that the crisis was rooted in the ‘3 Cs’ of:
Poor working CONDITIONS
A CULTURE of bullying and stigma around mental health
A lack of CAPABILITIES in the industry to the mental health of employees.
Two years later, after the pandemic, the situation had worsened considerably with 90% of people working in the film and TV industry experiencing depression (to 65% of the wider population at that time), and 55% had considered taking their own life.
There is clearly a responsibility for those above the line to take better care of those below it, in terms of mental health in this business.
But let’s talk productivity and creativity.
You need your performers to show up with these 3 Cs: consistentcy, creativity and collaboration. The best way for them to do so, is to have good nervous system health and a resilience practice that can sustain their mental wellbeing through triggering emotional performances, demanding schedules and overexposure. Without it, they get stuck in a chronic fight/flight response cutting them off from the parts of their physiology that allows for the 3 Cs to occur.
Let me help you build the happiest and most productive cast, and set, in the business.
I OFFER A FREE INVITE ONLY EVENT FOR ANYONE INTERESTED: CLICK LEARN MORE TO MESSAGE ME.
For Drama Schools and Universities…
While it is your job to maximize talent in your performers, it is also to provide a proverbial tool box from which to pull resources and techniques. Good mental health practices MUST now be part of that toolbox you offer.
We now know that presence, playfulness and creativity, three qualities you celebrate in your best students, can only be accessed when coming from a regulated nervous system - an impossibility when facing anxiety, depression or internalised stress. You want good performances? You must teach them how to perform at their best.
The lucky students who later find themselves to be working actors will inevitably face public scrutiny, gruelling schedules, chronic exposure to challenging emotional states and a need to advocate for themselves when faced with conflict. Those who do not, rejection and financial stress. Either way, part of the job we actors do is to navigate the extraordinary ups and downs this career imposes upon us. To be employable, and not burn out over time, we must prepare our young actors and performers with the skills and practices that will support their resilience and self-atunement long term.
Let me help you build the happiest, healthiest and most confident performers ever to be set loose on this business!
I OFFER A FREE INVITE ONLY EVENT FOR ANYONE INTERESTED: CLICK LEARN MORE TO MESSAGE ME.
“The work Anastasia does is magical”
— Sarah Flower, actor
My Story:
I have worked as an actress in Hollywood for 21 years. I have enjoyed some meaningful success and endured many challenging pauses, lead big TV shows and supported the cast in others, had posters on bill boards and walked many a red carpet. I was in that 1% of ‘successful’ actors.
At the age of 36, however, after years of high pressure, self-criticism, body image issues and ‘not-enoughness’, I hit burnout, causing a mental and physical decline. On deep reflection, it became apparent that I was no longer pursuing acting success for the right reasons, and was feeling unfulfilled by the work I was doing. I realised that ‘success', for me at that stage of my life, looked like becoming a mother, albeit a single one. I called in my son. Miraculously! A story you can read more about that here.
I chose to focus my time and energy on raising him through those formative first 7 years without the distraction of pursuing my acting career. I created my coaching business based on my experience in that high pressure world, the tools I used to heal from burnout and the studies in psychology and self development I had long been committed to.
Today, my son being older and more independent of me, I get to come back to my original passion, acting, but in a whole new way. With a whole new identity that is not about external validation or approval but creative expression and building a legacy for my son.
Success looks different to everyone. Defining what success is for you is essential. Then using the full power capacity of your mind, body and spirit to make that success a reality, is what will transform this life of yours into something truly extraordinary!
The ACT WELL Process…
As part of the ACT WELL program I offer group and 1:1 programs, guiding clients through 5 key concepts.
With performers and creatives in mind, it is designed to build the resilience, confidence and unshakable internal security needed to protect them from the threat of depression, anxiety or burn out in this business, while empowering them to take back control of their own destiny.
The process will address:
MENTAL HEALTH FOR PERFORMANCE WEALTH - Why sustaining good mental health is essential to becoming a success
MANAGING NERVES - Nervous system health for longterm success and physical, mental, emotional wellbeing.
RIDING OUT UNCERTAINTY - making change at the root: cultivating beliefs, thoughts and habits for unshakable resilience and confidence.
COMMUNICATION, COLLABORATION AND CONSENT - learning how to advocate for yourself in the work place, without getting a ‘rep’..
TAKING YOUR POWER BACK - stepping out of victim and becoming the co-creator of your own destiny.
I OFFER A FREE INVITE ONLY EVENT FOR ANYONE INTERESTED: CLICK LEARN MORE.
“Anastasia has helped me appreciate and value myself more, improve my confidence and breakthrough the negative thought patterns that had become entrenched... stopping the cycle of procrastination. ”
— Charlotte Cavaghan, Writer