10 October marks World Mental Health Day, providing a timely reminder of the role pubs and hospitality venues can play in keeping people connected.
Pubs are more than places to eat, drink and socialise. They are community hubs, familiar places where people catch up with mates, build friendships and, sometimes, have conversations that are difficult to start elsewhere.
That role is increasingly being recognised when it comes to mental health. Recent initiatives across pubs, clubs and sporting venues have shown how hospitality can help create opportunities for people to connect, raise awareness and support important causes.
This year’s World Mental Health Day focus is on people with lived experience and making sure their voices help shape the services and support that affect their lives.
For operators, there is also a workplace conversation. Hospitality can be demanding, with long hours, shift work and busy trading periods putting pressure on teams.
Mental wellbeing is increasingly becoming part of the operational conversation, with businesses looking at rostering, staff check-ins, employee assistance programs such as instigated at Hunt Hotels, awareness campaigns such as Charlie Fenton’s Saddle Up for a Mate at the Crookwell Hotel, and mental health ‘first aid’.
Pubs cannot replace professional mental health services, but they can provide a place where people feel comfortable talking and where a mate can notice when something is not quite right.
Sometimes it starts with a conversation, a community event or simply knowing where to point someone for further support.
This World Mental Health Day, the message for venues is simple: keep the conversation going, look after your people and continue creating places where people feel they belong.
