Company: The YAFTA Project
Website: https://theyaftaproject.com/
Business: The YAFTA Project teaches acting classes in schools with a focus on the development of psychological skills to support individual student growth, mental health and wellbeing.
Charlotte Armitage And The YAFTA Project
As one of the leading mental health professionals working in the film and TV industry, Charlotte’s passion is focused on breaking down barriers within the sector alongside improving the provision and support around duty of care and mental health amongst society.
In 2013, whilst heavily pregnant, about to become a single parent and fleeing from a bad domestic situation, Charlotte turned her focus to creating YAFTA, a film & TV educational establishment. There was a gap in the market for reputable training in the North so Charlotte created an organisation at which she would want to learn.
10 years on, YAFTA have made significant movement in the industry with respect to on screen representations of diversity, as well as being involved in the changes to duty of care provisions for those working on screen. As a mixed-race woman, Charlotte wanted to ensure fair representation onscreen for those with disabilities and from minority backgrounds.
YAFTA has secured Spotlight Accreditation for their unique screen acting diploma program, an accolade only previously given to full time drama schools degree programmes. Having trained 1000s of students both nationally and internationally, the Academy has built up a stellar reputation amongst those in the industry including casting directors, producers and directors.
As a result, Charlotte was awarded Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts for her work promoting inclusivity, creative diversity and social mobility in the media sector. She is also a member of BAFTA.
As YAFTA continues to thrive, Charlotte has turned her activism work towards utilising screen acting in schools to support the mental health and wellbeing of school children.
As psychologist, psychotherapist and chartered scientist with a fascination with how the childhood environment impacts our behaviours, actions, attitudes and choices in adulthood, her mission is to push preventative approaches towards mental health in schools. To fix the mental health epidemic, Charlotte believes we must start with preventative opportunities within schools rather than looking at therapies which aim to fix the issue in adulthood.
Get 50% Off Editorial From TechRound This November>>
(Press releases, interviews and startup of the week)
