I'm fundraising for the future of hospitality.
I have seen so many close friends of mine struggle with mental health and substance abuse, while working in kitchens. This is the reason why I have chosen to raise money for The Burnt Chef Project, an organisation set up to tackle mental health stigma in the hospitality industry. It's something very close to my heart and I would love your support!
A few years ago, I was working in a hotel in one of the three restaurants on the site. Most of the chefs who worked there lived on-site. Each day at work we could be working up to 17 hours (07:30 – 00:30), where we would be under tremendous pressure, I used to get stressed-induced heart palpitations like so many of us. A lot of us used to drink, smoke and take recreational drugs on shift (anything to get you through the day). So, after a busy day in the kitchen, all the chefs used to go back to their houses and try and unwind from the day that had just taken place. For most of us, this used to be having quite few a drinks, as well as taking whatever recreational recreational drugs we had.
On this day, was the day I realised that mental health issues consume so many chefs, which got whitewashed over and never spoken about.
Each night after work all the chefs used to meet in the kitchen to have some drinks or anything to numb the stressful day that has just happened before we go to bed, so we can do the whole thing again tomorrow and one of the other chefs, let’s call him James (I am leaving his real name out of this) after we both finished work and met in the kitchen, we would go into one of the room to have some more drinks and play some Xbox. However, James finished before me one day and I did not see him in the kitchen with the rest of us drinking. so, I walked up to his room to drag him downstairs to join the rest of us. When I opened the door, all I saw was his lifeless pale face and a belt wrapped around his neck tied to the ceiling. Immediately I ran over and grabbed his legs to lift him to relieve some of the pressure around his neck and shouted for one of the other chefs to run up and cut the belt. We managed to get James down and remove the belt from around his neck, at this point, an ambulance was on its way to us and took James to A&E, where he was later diagnosed with depression & substance abuse.
This story is one of the many I could tell, so we need to do something to stop this stigma by asking for help, when we truly need it. Please donate whenever you can in these challenging times, share and stop the stigma. #StopTheStigma
Wear a mankini?