FREELANCING 101
Wellbeing and sustainable freelancing
Looking after yourself, finding support and recognising when work needs to change
Freelance work in theatre and the performing arts can be rewarding, varied and creatively fulfilling. It can also involve irregular income, changing workloads, rejection, long or unsociable hours, travel, periods without work and pressure to keep saying yes.
These pressures can affect your mental, physical and financial wellbeing. They may also be made harder by discrimination, exclusion, inaccessible working practices or a lack of support at work.
These pressures are not a personal failing, and self-care cannot fix poor pay, discrimination or unsafe working conditions. Building a sustainable freelance life includes looking after yourself, knowing where to find specialist support and recognising when the work or working environment needs to change.
What this page can help you do
- Think about what you need to work sustainably.
- Recognise when a problem may need practical or professional support.
- Find trusted organisations and existing FMTW resources.
- Know where to go if you need urgent help.
About this information: FMTW is not a health or counselling service. This page provides introductory information and signposts to organisations with relevant professional or specialist expertise.
1. Building a sustainable freelance life
There is no single right way to freelance. Your capacity and support needs may change between jobs and at different points in your life. When considering work, it can help to think about:
- Your full workload: include preparation, travel, administration and other unpaid tasks, not only the hours you are contracted to work.
- Rest and recovery: consider what you may need before, during and after long days, intensive periods, performances or touring.
- Your boundaries: think about when you are available, how you prefer to be contacted and what additional work you can reasonably take on.
- Your access needs: ask about adjustments, accessible working practices and practical support as early as you feel able.
- Your caring responsibilities: consider how working hours, travel, touring, overnight stays and changes to the schedule might affect childcare or other care. Think about what information, notice or flexibility you may need in order to make the work manageable.
- Your finances: consider whether the fee reflects the full commitment and how the work fits alongside quieter periods or other income.
- Your support: know which people, organisations or professional services you could contact if you need advice or help. For a particular job, ask what welfare support is available and whether there is a named contact, such as a Mental Health First Aider, if the organisation has one. This may be particularly useful if the work involves sensitive or potentially distressing material.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Fatigue can be a safety issue
Fatigue is not only a wellbeing issue. It can affect concentration, judgement, coordination and reaction time, increasing the risk of mistakes, accidents and injury.
When you work for more than one client, look at your total schedule. Include preparation, travel, overnight get-outs, early starts, long calls and work on consecutive days. Each booking may appear manageable on its own while the combined workload leaves too little time for rest and recovery.
This is especially important if the work involves driving, rigging, electrical work, machinery, access equipment or working at height. Being fit to work includes being alert enough to carry out the task and travel safely. If fatigue means you cannot do that, tell the relevant person as early as possible and discuss what needs to change.
After a long shift or get-out, do not begin or continue driving if you are too tired to do so safely. Think about travel and accommodation when accepting or planning the work, and raise concerns if the schedule could make the journey unsafe.
People with worker status are usually entitled to 11 hours’ rest between working days, although exceptions and different rules can apply. Someone who is genuinely self-employed may not have the same statutory protection. Being called a freelancer does not by itself decide your employment status.
Depending on the working arrangement and who controls the work, engagers, employers and venues may also have responsibilities for working hours and fatigue. Accepting a booking or agreeing to additional hours does not automatically remove those responsibilities.
Official Guidance
Fatigue at work
HSE explains how long hours, shift patterns and insufficient rest can affect health and safety, and why fatigue should be managed like other workplace hazards.
Read HSE guidance on fatigue →
Rest and breaks at work
Acas explains the rest rights that usually apply to workers, including rest between working days. Different rules and exceptions can apply depending on the work and the person’s employment status.
Read Acas guidance on rest and breaks →
Driving when tired
The Highway Code advises drivers not to begin a journey when tired and to plan sufficient breaks when travelling.
PRACTICAL TOOL
Before accepting a job, ask yourself: Do I understand the full commitment, and do I have what I need to do this work safely and sustainably?
2. When the problem is the work
Sometimes pressure or distress is being caused by the terms, conditions or culture of the work itself. Support for your wellbeing may still be helpful, but you may also need practical advice, workplace action or collective support.
Money or payment problems
If the pressure involves setting a fee, managing irregular income, late payment or unpaid invoices, visit the Money, tax and admin section.
Rights or working conditions
If something feels unsafe, unfair or different from what was agreed, explore contracts, rights and red flags before deciding what to do next.
Professional or collective support
A trade union or professional organisation may be able to provide advice, representation or support with a workplace concern.
Discrimination or exclusion
Racism, discrimination, harassment and inaccessible working practices are workplace issues, not personal failures. FMTW’s resources can help you find relevant guidance and support.
3. Find specialist support
You do not have to manage every difficulty alone. Specialist organisations, health professionals and peer-support services can offer help appropriate to your circumstances.
Parents and Carers in Performing Arts (PiPA)
Parents and Carers in Performing Arts (PiPA) is a charity working to create a performing arts sector where care and career can thrive together.
PiPA provides practical resources for parents and carers navigating freelance and creative work, caring responsibilities and conversations with employers, engagers and teams.
‘Work with me’ Care-Inclusive Access Rider
A practical prompt for exploring how your caring responsibilities intersect with your work. You can use it privately to think through what you need or adapt it to support a conversation with an employer, engager or team.
Download the Care-Inclusive Access Rider →
Communicating your role as a parent or carer
An extract from PiPA’s Managing the Juggle toolkit, offering practical help with communicating your caring responsibilities and needs at work.
Download the communicating guide →
Managing the Juggle
PiPA’s free toolkit includes practical guidance on communicating your needs, financial support, planning flexible childcare and finding support that reflects the realities of freelance and creative work. The full toolkit is supplied by email through PiPA’s download form.
Request the full Managing the Juggle toolkit →
Monthly opportunities and support
PiPA shares a regularly updated selection of financial support, wellbeing resources, career support and opportunities for parents and carers working in the performing arts.
Performing arts health and wellbeing
These organisations provide specialist support informed by the particular demands of working in the performing arts.
BAPAM
BAPAM provides free, confidential health and wellbeing support for people working and studying in the performing arts. Its services include advice, specialist clinical assessments, health resources and information about healthy practice.
WELLBEING IN THE ARTS
Wellbeing in the Arts provides mental health and wellbeing support for people working across the arts, including access to low-cost counselling, wellbeing advice, workshops and training. Its counsellors understand the particular challenges of working in the industry.
EXTERNAL RESOURCES
Dance-specific healthcare
The National Institute of Dance Medicine and Science provides dance-specific health and injury information and helps dancers access specialist healthcare.
Its website includes referral information for NHS Dance Injury Clinics in London, Birmingham and Bath for professional and pre-professional dancers, dance teachers and choreographers. Access depends on the referral criteria and where you are registered with a GP, so check the current information before relying on it.
More counselling and mental health support
Explore further free or low-cost counselling services and mental health support available to people working in the performing arts.
Peer and community support
Connecting with others who understand freelance and performing-arts work can help reduce isolation and provide shared support.
More wellbeing services & resources
FMTW’s directory brings together further organisations, resources and specialist sources of support.
4. Safe and inclusive working
Feeling safe, respected and able to access the support you need is an important part of wellbeing at work. Bullying, harassment, racism, discrimination and inaccessible working practices should not be treated as pressures that a freelancer simply has to manage alone.
FMTW has further resources for freelancers, organisations and employers:
- 10 Principles for Safe and Inclusive Workspaces offer a shared framework for tackling bullying, harassment and discrimination.
- Anti-racism resources bring together guidance, support and practical tools for safer and more equitable working.
- LGBTQIA+ resources provide routes to support, community, advocacy tools and opportunities.
- Menopause and perimenopause resources offer practical information for freelancers and those they work with.
5. If you need help now
If you or someone else needs urgent help, use an appropriate emergency or crisis service rather than waiting for a professional organisation or peer-support service to respond.
FMTW’s Emergency Wellbeing Support page brings together routes to immediate and crisis support across the UK.
Last reviewed:Â September 2026
Links and guidance can change. Check the date and scope of any external information before relying on it.