With the success of Philip Barantini's Boiling Point, mental health and substance abuse in the Hospitality Industry has been the forefront of many people's minds.
Starring Stephen Graham the short film is loosely based on Barantini's time as a chef and covers issues including self-harm and addiction. 'So Let's Talk' is a not for profit platform to provide education, training and activities on all aspects of mental, physical and financial health inside of the hospitality industry.
Founder Patrick Howley worked in the industry for 16-years, starting off glass collecting when he was 13-years-old. But coming from a "family of coaches" Patrick qualified as a NLP [Neuro-Linguistic Programming] practitioner at the age of 17.
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He told the ECHO : "To be honest it felt like two separate worlds, but the skills of working in hospitality, and having this coaching aspect, made me a general manager at 20-years-old. If I am completely honest, I had no right to be in that position at that age.
"I was given keys, a team of 20, I was forecasting sales etc., and with that came some really unhealthy and destructive habits. My recreational drug use, at such a young age, was through the roof, and I had a really unhealthy relationship with alcohol.
"The most disruptive thing in my life I would say, is that I saw the hospitality industry as a lifestyle, not a job. If I wasn’t inside work serving food and drink, I would be out buying food, drink and drugs - while surrounding myself with other hospitality professionals in the same cycle."
Raised in Burnley, he spent 10-years of his life travelling the UK and working in hospitality. He said: "I was then given the opportunity to be a manager at a pop up bar in Manchester one Christmas - then they gave me around four or five AFD's back to back. Now I am not sure if many know what that means. It's a hospitality term for All F****** Day.
"So that was four or five 14-hour-shifts back to back. Instead of going home when I finished, I did my normal routine which was - take a lot of drugs and drink way too much alcohol. I would turn up to the shift next day like nothing had happened.
"Nobody even recognised that I wasn’t compos mentis, because I was so high-functioning. That is, unfortunately, a narrative for a lot of hospitality professionals at the moment."
He added: "After those four or five days, I was in a darker stage of my life and was sitting in mum's spare bedroom. For the first time in my life I was having severe suicidal ideations, the only option I could see in my life at the time, was for me not to be here."
He told the ECHO : "I recognised the thought processes, spoke with my mum, and realised that I had to leave the industry. I checked my salary outgoings and worked out that I had spent around 65% of my salary on drugs and alcohol alone that year.
"Having to leave the industry was very difficult, it was all I had done for 16-years. I went to an AA meeting, I worked out it was an unhealthy relationship I had with it, not an addiction, but I decided to go sober and change my lifestyle around.
"I got really angry after this, I had been doing this to myself for 10-years plus, without any avenue for help within the industry. It is just not accessible enough.
"I sent out a post in January 2020, and said that I want to work on prevention, not therapy once they burn out. We need to look at the destructive operational structures that we may have."
The post "blew up" on social media and after signing it off with with "So Let’s Talk" a friend, sent a logo with that name on it shortly after and told Patrick "it was a great name for a business". He has since sat down with a lot of people, and discussed how they can change the culture, which all comes down "to education".
The 31-year-old said: "Having people come and speak from fields such as sleep or nutrition, who have never worked in the industry wouldn’t resonate with [industry workers] fully. So over the last two years we have created 13 sessions revolving around physical, mental, and financial health, working with experts in the field of sleep, nutrition and mental health - we've then taken that information and made it relevant to the industry.
"We deliver from a place of lived experience. This is where we can build a rapport because we have all been industry professionals before."
Patrick recently partnered with local chef Eddie Kilty as part of his Collective Dinner that took place inside the City of Liverpool College. Hosted by An Hour With An Indie Podcast, the event raised over £2,000 in support of So Let's Talk, which will be used to provide free courses based around mental health, for professionals within Liverpool's Hospitality Industry.
Following the success of the inaugural Collective Dinner, Eddie has managed to secure another evening which will be taking place on June 7. The evening raised awareness of mental health in the industry as well as providing the students with the opportunity to work with professionals in their field of study.
He added: "The money raised from Eddie’s Collective Dinner, will be used to fund sessions specifically for professionals within Liverpool’s hospitality industry. Hopefully we will be able to run some sessions with the students in the college as well, they will be free to attend due to the money raised at the event, we are just working on logistics at the moment."
Eddie Kilty invited So Let's Talk to take part in the event so that he could raise money for a cause that will see change made to issues "many of us have seen, or faced ourselves, within the hospitality industry". Having witnessed first-hand the impact mental health can have on workers within the sector, he knows there is a "desperate need" for more action to be taken by businesses when it comes to supporting their workers needs in dealing with issues such as depression and anxiety, as well as drug and alcohol abuse.
He told the ECHO : "I have worked with a lot of chefs who have suffered with mental health issues, depression, anxiety and so on. Most with alcohol and drug abuse, and we have had to help these people along the way, and get them the support they need.
"I just feel like the sense of community seemed, to me anyway, to be missing. The idea behind the Collective Dinner was to bring that feel of community back into the industry and bring together an array of accomplished chefs around the city, to show our united force.
"We are so busy, and it is one of the biggest industries in the UK. But because of this people feel that they are scared to have their voice heard, or if there is something wrong, then shy away instead of opening up about it."
He added: "Even though it is a very big sector to work in, there are a lot of people, it can also be quite a lonely one. Whether you work in the kitchen or front of house, there is sometimes a sense that you can be working on your own."
The next Collective Dinner will be raising funds in aid of The Papercup Project, who provide crucial training and support for those who have experienced homelessness, and is taking place on June 7 at the Academy Restaurant in the City of Liverpool College. Tickets are available via An Hour With An Indie's website.
