THE LOCH & Key Restaurant and Bar will be hosting their first Big Blue Table to raise funds and awareness of mental health in conjunction with Beyond Blue this October.
For $30 guests will receive a drink on arrival, delicious nibbles and be invited to have a conversation about mental health.
Restaurant owner Tamara said it was a spur-of-the-moment decision between her husband Dave who is also the chef and their new front-of-house manager Jules, and there were many reasons that led to the decision.
“Part of it’s personal. I myself have struggled for years with depression at times, especially postnatal, over the years. But our son has also just come through cancer. We’ve seen a lot of that in young people,” said Tamara.
“My husband and I very firmly believe that mental health is as important as physical health, and he’s a chef, so we’ve spent a lot of time in hospitality where these sorts of things are always rough and tumble, and everybody glosses over it, but we’ve got some of the highest suicide rates in our industry.”
Data collected from the National Coronial Information System and the Australian Bureau of Statistics between 2006 – 2017 (prior to COVID) found that suicide rates for chefs – both males and females, was significantly higher than for people in non-hospitality occupations and compared with other occupations, hospitality workers who died by suicide had significantly greater odds of being female.
Awareness of stressors within the industry has been growing, especially following a series of relatively recent suicides by high-profile chefs in Australia and overseas.
Justin Bull had worked as a personal chef to James Packer and Russell Crowe, Jeremy Strode was a top Australian chef, Jock Zonfrillo was a judge on MasterChef and Anthony Bourdain was an American celebrity chef.
Hospitality work is typically high intensity and high demand with limited autonomy and low control, long and unsociable working hours, low pay, and poor physical working conditions.
In some instances, this can be alongside high rates of violence, aggression, and bullying within kitchen environments.
Almost 80 per cent of Australian hospitality workers are also employed on a casual basis, resulting in irregular hours and income instability, which may also negatively affect the mental health of those in the industry.
“Basically, what it comes down to for us is it’s multi-prong. We believe that mental health is as important as physical health. And in hospitality, it’s very obvious because you work in such a full-on environment, we’ve had the opportunity to be exposed to a lot of young people, or raised young people, and we just know it’s important for them to learn it’s okay to talk about it,” said Tamara.
Jules is also studying counselling and is grateful to have the opportunity to facilitate the event and these important conversations.
“We are looking at taking a male mental health focus for the event encouraging men in our local community to come along,” said Jules.
“I guess just having those conversations, really wanting to have that focus on those who might have struggled with anxiety and depression in their lives and having an open forum and really going from that perspective.”
There will be a silent auction, trivia and door prizes draw on the night and all proceeds will be donated directly to The Big Blue Table, Beyond Blue Foundation.
The Big Blue Table will be held at the Loch and Key Restaurant and Bar, Loch on Wednesday, October 30. All who are interested can call 5659 4236 or use the QR code.
If you need support, talk to a GP or health professional.
• SANE Australia on 1800 18 SANE (7263) or sane.org.
• Lifeline on 13 11 14 or lifeline.org.au.
• MensLine Australia on 1300 789 978 or mensline.org.au.
