With fundraising cocktails, staff encouraged to talk freely about mental health and a drive to do whatever they can to support a local charity, a leading Durham hotel wants to make it "easier to start conversations" about what can be a difficult subject.
Hotel Indigo in Durham city centre is working with the mental health charity If U Care Share (IUCS) as part of a new partnership to highlight the support available both to hospitality staff and the wider community, raise money and ensure that as many local people as possible know about the support IUCS provides.
The hotel's general manager Tom Orange explained: "It's an issue that's just not going to go away. Mental health is such a massive thing for us. So many people have been touched by it, including myself and we thought there was no better charity to work with. We are doing a range of activities from supporting staff on a sponsored bike ride - we've already raised £350 - to the cocktails and plenty more.
Read more: Charity founder speaks out on need to fund mental health services
"We've had Matthew come in and give a talk to staff on the theme of mental health and how important mental health awareness is." Tom said that four staff so far had become certified mental health first aiders and that number would increase, and added: "It helps us to have conversations that would never have really been picked up before."
Food and drink manager Kirsty Worne said "If U Care Share is a charity very close to my heart and I know it means a lot to many members of the team at the hotel. Awareness needs to be raised surrounding all areas of mental health particularly within the industry we work in. The hours and anti-social shift patterns can really take their toll and I think it’s very important to talk about this.
"If U Care Share are doing amazing work within the North East and as a team we are so excited to support and help the charity in any way we can."
Dan Robson, assistant food and drink manager continued: "When Matthew came in and spoke to us, it made a lot of people realise that we do need to be able to talk about this sort of thing. It's part of our jobs to know if anyone needs help and if they need any care or support."
Matthew Smith co-founded IUCS with the rest of his family after brother Daniel O'Hare died suddenly in 2005. One of the cocktails on offer at the hotel is named Dan's Daiquiri in his honour - and £2 from each cocktail sold will go straight into the charity's coffers. The second cocktail is a mocktail called a Not-so-Irish Irish Cream. The charity offers mental health support to help prevent suicide and also to support families affected by it.
Matthew added: "We hope that we might help facilitate conversations around a topic that can be taboo. It's about reaching companies, reaching people in general in a way that we might no normally be able to do. From the charity's perspective we want everyone in the NE to have heard about us before it's too late. It's literally life-saving.
"Of course this industry has its pressures, but we need to remember that society as a whole has serious issues and that's why it's so important that this information [about the charity] is front and centre where everyone can see it. We are talking about life or death in so many situations."
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