A large group of staff at the Novotel Hotel in North Wollongong are sitting around round tables scattered around one of the building’s many function rooms overlooking the ocean.
It’s a warm, sunny spring day and the mood is jovial, but Lachlan Stevens and his fellow facilitators from The Barstool Project are here to discuss some heavy topics.
“Mental health is such a secretive subject that people don’t feel comfortable talking about it, but when you’re working behind a bar and talking to customers, you almost fall into the role of accidental counsellor,” says Mr Stevens.
“It’s great to acknowledge that anyone can have these conversations about mental health and anyone can ask if someone is OK or not OK and everyone has the power to change lives.”
The course is in its early stages and only a few have been delivered to hospitality venues in Wollongong.
It aims to train people to recognise the symptoms of mental health problems in their customers and how to help them appropriately, and to train staff to recognise when the pressures of working in hospitality are taking a toll on their own health.
It was set up as a not-for-profit organisation by Wollongong bar owner Lachlan Stevens and employee Daniel Chin.
“Because we’re hospitality professionals delivering it to the hospitality industry, it’s getting a great response because we’re talking about issues specific to our industry and we can communicate effectively and provide relevance,” Mr Stevens said.
More needs to be done
Novotel Wollongong Northbeach general manager Ajay Vaid said his staff not only sometimes worked unsociable hours, but also had to deal with unsociable guests.
He said he had noticed a shift in the hospitality industry’s attitude to mental health during his career.
“It hasn’t been great, to be honest, it’s taboo and there’s a lot of reluctance to talk about mental health,” he said.
“We don’t do much, but it’s a good encouragement for us to get involved in some unique and fulfilling projects like The Barstool Project.”
Emily Squires, a member of Novotel’s human resources team, said employees across the hospitality industry are often left without the resources or training they need to support their mental health.
“There is often a lack of support and understanding of the challenges team members are going through,” she said.
Responsibility for mental health
The Health and Safety at Work Act 2011 was amended in October last year to require employers to respond to, manage and prevent psychosocial risks.
Mr Stevens said many employers were unaware that they had an explicit duty to eliminate or minimise mental health problems in the workplace.
He said complying with this duty would come at a financial cost to small businesses, but government funding would help.
“Our course partly meets those [legal] requirements, but if governments have legislation that requires small businesses to manage these risks, and we have a financially sustainable model, we’d like to have conversations with government officials about funding that.
“Hopefully we can get the price down to $25 per person.”
