On #worldsuicidepreventionday I want to talk about the mental health risks in our kitchens from a different angle.
At Cooking In Mind I want to talk about the problem from the bottom up. There are wonderful charities out there to help people who are really at risk from suicide, drug abuse or other serious mental health issues. What makes me passionate is to think about how we can prevent people feeling like this in the first place.
Lets look at the causes rather than the symptoms.
The pressures of working as a chef or in the hospitality industry is enough to make people feel suicidal. I’m interested in what we can do to look at the causes. What can we be doing to loosen that grip, to keep people safe and enable our hospitality workers to live balanced lives.
By doing this we could prevent one chef from reaching that point of danger. Just one and I’m happy.
To do this…
We all need to take responsibly for others. Primarily we need to be aware of how we manage the people below us. Are they ok? Am I asking too much? Are they coping? By taking this all the way to the top we change the way we manage and over the years those commis chefs who become head chefs take that good style of management with them.
We all need to take responsibility for ourselves. How do we live our lives to give ourselves the best chance? Do we live a good work/life balance? Do we get outside? Do we get some exercise? Do we fuel our bodies well?
Lets start this journey. Lets shake it up for the hospitality workers of the future. Lets bring down the chef suicide rate one kind word at a time, one responsibly management service at a time, one run at a time, one hug from a loved one at a time.
Keep safe everyone.