Mentally-Healthy 2026 is ready to hear from you

This year, we're asking what it takes to thrive

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If you haven't participated before, Mentally-Healthy is our research into the state of our mental wellbeing in the creative, media and marketing industry. In 2018, it was groundbreaking. No-one had asked the questions we did before, at the scale that we did then. Fast-forward to now and mental health and wellbeing is part of the vernacular. We've got apps, some us have been trained in mental health first aid, it's more likely to just 'come up' in conversation.

Which is progress. And also, maybe, a problem.

Because I've also noticed something else lately, and in checking with some of our community, they've noticed it too.

A tiredness around the topic.

Eyes that glaze at conferences. Leaders who share, usually quietly, that they feel like they can't get it right: say the wrong thing and you're in trouble, say nothing and you're heartless, and once someone tells you they're struggling, how much are you actually allowed to ask of them? Some wonder out loud whether people today are just softer than the generation before. I don't think they're bad people for wondering. I think they're asking questions nobody has properly answered.

So this year, we're going to try.

Mentally Healthy 2026 is our fifth wave. It keeps everything that lets us track eight years of trends, the same clinical measures, word for word. But the new ground is different in spirit.

We're asking about AI, and whether it's a jetpack or a threat (our research last year suggested something surprising: the people using AI most were the least burnt out – we want to know if that remains true almost a year later).

We're asking about pride: what the work we love does FOR us, and what it does TO us when that work gets killed, changed, or quietly shelved.

We're asking leaders and employees mirror-image questions about whether 'struggle' is actually visible at work.

And we're asking, directly, whether you're tired of hearing about all of this. You can say yes. Anonymously. That answer is data too.

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I'm optimistic and hopeful, that we can get this right, by understanding that putting people first can have an outstanding impact on our lives, our careers and our businesses. It's already in the numbers. In 2024, when people said their business genuinely put people before profit, signs of moderate to severe anxiety and depression roughly halved. When people had real flexibility (actual choice, not mandated hybrid working routines) they showed the lowest levels of anxiety and depression of any group.

The things that make people mentally healthy at work keep turning out to be the same things that make businesses good: clarity, fairness, trust, empathetic leaders, and dealing with bad behaviour instead of managing around it.

In other words: this was never really about what's become the assumed perception of mental health (wellbeing strategies and programs). It's how the best work gets made. We're unlikely to create the work of our lives while bracing for impact. Ok, maybe once or twice, but it wasn't sustainable.

The survey is shorter than last time (we cut more than we added (I have the spreadsheet to prove it), it's anonymous, and it's open to anyone in creative, media, marketing or PR,wherever you are. Over our previous 4 waves, thousands of you have made the results impossible to ignore. Every response this time sharpens the picture of what thriving actually takes – so businesses can build for it, instead of paying for the aftermath.

PLEASE TAKE THE SURVEY

And if you're one of the tired ones? Especially you. Your honesty is worth just as much to this research as any opinion from previous waves. Shout if you have any questions.

Andy

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