In Conversation with Charlotte Armitage Media & Business Psychologist and Founder of (YAFTA) — Yorkshire Academy of Film and Television Acting.
Helping young people move forward in the creative industry!
This week’s guest on The Entertainment Engine podcast, we speak with Charlotte Armitage Business Psychologist & Founder of (YAFTA) — Yorkshire Academy of Film & Television Acting, based in Leeds.
It was great to catch up with Charlotte earlier this week and learn more about her background and working life as an;
Agent, Business psychologist and Founder of YAFTA!
Charlotte is The Media Psychologist, specialising in the Film & TV Industry, particularly, the psychological duty of care processes in production.
She is a registered psychotherapist with the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), an accredited business psychologist holding principal practitioner status with the Association of Business Psychologists (PPABP) and is currently undertaking a Professional Doctorate in Counselling Psychology.
With practices on Harley Street, London and Kirkstall Road, Leeds, Charlotte works with clients in both the North and South of the country.
Charlotte also works on-set in the UK and internationally where required.
Charlotte is also a member of the Media Ethics Advisory Group for the British Psychological Society (BPS) and is involved in developing policy and regulation for those in the Media.
She was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commence in 2019 for her widespread contribution to the Film & TV industry.
In addition to this, Charlotte is the Managing Director of the Yorkshire Academy of Film & Television Acting (YAFTA) and YAFTA Talent Agency and has over ten years of experience in the industry.
“For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated with the human mind and the psychology behind our beliefs and behaviours”.
“My experience working as a businesswoman, owner of a film & TV educational establishment (YAFTA), agent and psychologist, place me in a unique position to understand the implications of working in the film & TV industry, and I use this viewpoint to bring originality and depth of understanding to my work as a duty of care psychologist”.
In 2020, Charlotte launched Outsourced Psych LTD which is a psychological health care provider for organisations.
The company ensures that registered and qualified psychologists and psychotherapists deliver psychological care for employees, thus facilitating legal and ethical compliance with health & safety legislation within the organisational structure and beyond.
Bringing together her expertise in business, psychology and the Film & TV industry, Charlotte is also a columnist for the Yorkshire Post, MANDY, Women in Trade and Topic UK and regularly provides commentary and contributions for press, radio and TV for;
CNN, Virgin Media, The BBC, The Sun, The Independent plus much more!
Charlotte is also a resident expert for BBC Radio where she regularly contributes to pieces on a wide variety of psychological topics including mental health, mental health in the workplace, the acting industry and disability representation in the media.
Charlotte is a resident psychologist on BBC Radio, you can hear her on BBC Radio Leeds, BBC Radio Sheffield and BBC Radio York on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings.
Promoting diversity on screen.
In 2016, Charlotte was delighted to find that the YAFTA syllabus had been shortlisted, along with the NHS and IBM, for an ‘Excellence in Candidate Assessment’ award in the Association of Business Psychologists awards.
Shortly after YAFTA was incorporated in 2013, YAFTA Talent Agency was developed to help students break into the industry when they were ready to start gaining work.
YAFTA students have secured roles in mainstream film & TV productions.
In 2014, the whole team were very proud that YAFTA Actor, Liam Bairstow, became the first actor with down syndrome to secure a lead role in Coronation Street.
Then in 2019, another YAFTA actor, James Moore, made television history by becoming the first actor with a disability to win a National Television Award for his role as Ryan Stocks in Emmerdale.
YAFTA continues to champion actors from under-represented groups including running courses for actors with disabilities and holding the inaugural Disability in the Media event with BBC Radio Leeds in July 2019.
Charlotte was honoured to be awarded the 2019 Institute of Directors, Director of Inclusivity Award for Yorkshire and the North East.
It was great to speak with Charlotte and learn more about her world, so to learn more about Charlotte's experience click on the link below to hear the full chat I have with her on The Entertainment Engine….
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www.seamlessentertainment.co.uk/the-entertainment-engine
By Peter Moore
