diff --git a/awx/main/management/commands/run_wsrelay.py b/awx/main/management/commands/run_wsrelay.py
index 6538a8ac56..bcd64be890 100644
--- a/awx/main/management/commands/run_wsrelay.py
+++ b/awx/main/management/commands/run_wsrelay.py
@@ -165,9 +165,11 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
             return
 
         WebsocketsMetricsServer().start()
+        websocket_relay_manager = WebSocketRelayManager()
 
-        try:
-            websocket_relay_manager = WebSocketRelayManager()
-            asyncio.run(websocket_relay_manager.run())
-        except KeyboardInterrupt:
-            logger.info('Terminating Websocket Relayer')
+        while True:
+            try:
+                asyncio.run(websocket_relay_manager.run())
+            except KeyboardInterrupt:
+                logger.info('Restarting Websocket Relayer')
+                time.sleep(10)
diff --git a/awx/main/wsrelay.py b/awx/main/wsrelay.py
index 651b01ae7e..8c2a8279f9 100644
--- a/awx/main/wsrelay.py
+++ b/awx/main/wsrelay.py
@@ -310,19 +310,27 @@ class WebSocketRelayManager(object):
         for k, v in settings.LISTENER_DATABASES.get('default', {}).get('OPTIONS', {}).items():
             database_conf['OPTIONS'][k] = v
 
-        async_conn = await psycopg.AsyncConnection.connect(
-            dbname=database_conf['NAME'],
-            host=database_conf['HOST'],
-            user=database_conf['USER'],
-            password=database_conf['PASSWORD'],
-            port=database_conf['PORT'],
-            **database_conf.get("OPTIONS", {}),
-        )
-        await async_conn.set_autocommit(True)
-        event_loop.create_task(self.on_ws_heartbeat(async_conn))
+        task = None
 
         # Establishes a websocket connection to /websocket/relay on all API servers
         while True:
+            if not task or task.done():
+                try:
+                    async_conn = await psycopg.AsyncConnection.connect(
+                        dbname=database_conf['NAME'],
+                        host=database_conf['HOST'],
+                        user=database_conf['USER'],
+                        password=database_conf['PASSWORD'],
+                        port=database_conf['PORT'],
+                        **database_conf.get("OPTIONS", {}),
+                    )
+
+                    task = event_loop.create_task(self.on_ws_heartbeat(async_conn), name="on_ws_heartbeat")
+                    logger.info("Creating `on_ws_heartbeat` task in event loop.")
+
+                except Exception as e:
+                    logger.warning(f"Failed to connect to database for pg_notify: {e}")
+
             future_remote_hosts = self.known_hosts.keys()
             current_remote_hosts = self.relay_connections.keys()
             deleted_remote_hosts = set(current_remote_hosts) - set(future_remote_hosts)