Hospitality NZ highlights mental health to help sector through tough times

23rd September 2024 By Paul Yandall | paul@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker

Hospitality New Zealand says it is prioritising the industry’s efforts to support staff and business owners as Mental Health Awareness Week starts today.

The industry association’s chief executive, Steve Armitage, told the Ticker that this week was an opportunity to focus on meeting the mental health challenges the industry faces.

“This is an area that we’re taking a keen interest in,” he said.

“My view has been that there’s absolutely a responsibility for us to take greater care of our staff and, in particular, there’s a duty of care on both sides of the bar, if you like.

“It’s not just how we’re looking after all of the customers that come in through the door. It’s about the experience that we’re providing to our workforce because ultimately that’ll come through in the way that they’re treating customers too.”

Armitage said that, historically, it had been seen almost as a badge of honour to be part of the cut and thrust of the hospitality sector, particularly as it was portrayed on television.

“But now there’s a need for us to be thinking in the longer term about the holistic experience that particularly young workers are looking for.

“They need to feel that their interests are being looked after, not just in terms of pay and conditions relating to their employment, but they are also being looked after on the mental health and wellbeing side of things too.”

Alongside wellbeing initiatives like Healthy Hospo, which is supported by Lion, Hospitality New Zealand and the Restaurant Association of New Zealand have partnered with mental mental health technology initiative Helmet to help support those in need.

The Helmet app, co-founded by Masterchef 2015 winner Tim Read, will enable people to communicate and receive real-time advice on how to help someone suffering from poor mental health, as well as personalised guidance on providing support over time.

“Helmet comes from my own journey of lived experience through mental health issues,” Read told the Ticker.

“The insight that we’ve built on is that in moments when I was the lowest, it was the people around me – my friends, my family, my wife – who feel this sense of responsibility, this duty of care for my wellbeing, and they feel the pain to an immense level too.”

Read said those in mental health distress often have low levels of motivation, low decision-making ability, and low capacity for work or effort, leaving them vulnerable to despair.

“But the people around them are hugely driven and motivated to take action and so we wanted to leverage that, that sense of duty of care or sense of responsibility, to help.”

The Helmet app is expected to be launched after a testing phase later this year.

Mental Health Awareness Week starts today and runs from 23-29 September 2024. More information can be found here.