The Health in Hospitality initiative is a consultant service that provides education, training and ongoing support to people and teams working in the hospitality industry.
Our focus is to educate and inspire people around making choices in their life that are more self-regarding and less abusive of themselves, both personally and professionally. Health in Hospitality highlights that what is at the heart of hospitality, which is a genuine love and care for people, is actually what we need to be bringing more of a focus to for ourselves first.
Health in Hospitality is about empowering people to understand the importance of placing their own health as the number one priority, before and ahead of the demands and expectations of what can be, without proper care for oneself, a very physically and emotionally taxing industry, which in and of itself does not bode well for true and lasting long term health or relationships.
If we are to be truly able to say with conviction that this is an industry that loves people, then a new approach for our workers is drastically needed, we need to live it from within; within ourselves first and from within the industry itself.
The development and presentation of our workshops are specific to sharing with and educating people working in the industry about understanding the importance of good health and true vitality, which can only be arrived at through making a distinct personal choice and commitment. This commitment starts at whatever point each person is ready, and can be constantly refined as the awareness of what is ‘good for you’ and what is not, naturally deepens and develops.
Outlining the impact of what happens to our health when we live a lifestyle that is in disregard to what truly supports us to be well, highlights that it is only through love, care for who we are, connection with ourselves and a deep respect for the body we live in, that will provide us with true long term health, offering ourselves the ability to sustain and enjoy a vital and purposeful working life.
With unhealthy rhythms of living such as poor quality of sleep, lack of proper exercise, poor diet, and extreme levels of alcohol and drug abuse, leading to high rates of early onset illness and disease, to now, a situation of frequent suicide. As a group of people who truly care about people, as a community we to need to come together to address how we are caring for ourselves, and our teams.
Our Purpose
Our purpose is multi-layered; with respect to addressing what is needed simply as a start to improving the overall health and well-being of the people in the industry, whilst also offering the potential of a paradigm shift that will support the long term health of the industry itself.
Initially through bringing focus and discussion to the actual state of physical and mental health within the Hospitality industry, our aim is to raise awareness to the fact of the current widespread ill-health of workers in the hospitality industry in Australia, delivered via presentations, workshop-style open group discussions and surveys.
We don’t shy away from lifting the lid on the known but seemingly not concerned about high-level use of drugs, both recreational and pharmaceutical that is standard practice and a way of life for so many owners and employees in the hospitality industry; and we openly engage the discussion around the tremendous affect this has on our short and ultimately long-term health.
Talking about lifestyle related illness is a conversation that needs to be had, and for employers and leaders in the industry who truly care about people, it is a conversation that can now be offered in the workplace, from a responsible place of true and deep care for the future of everyone who comes into contact with this industry, not only the Hospitality staff.
It’s time to get real about the lack of care that is rampant in the industry, whether it is because of expectations of employers or each persons own lack of love for themselves; across the board the culture of the industry is not one that supports or encourages people to be well. This is evident in the long and very physical hours that are an abuse to the body, the culture of substance abuse and addiction, poor diet, poor sleep and a lack of any true nurturing exercise that supports the body to be fit for the job; these are just a few examples of how this widespread lack of care has become so common place in the industry.
We open this conversation up with businesses and companies to look at why this is happening, how we’ve chosen to accept it and what we can all do together to begin to implement a change in the culture of the Hospitality industry.
Identifying what true care is is paramount to any discussion in respect of the future of the industry; because without people there is no industry.
Our individual health is vital to the health of the industry, and our health should always be put before our industry; we are a person before we are a Chef, a Waiter, a Restaurant Manager; we are a person before we are a ‘position’. This is what we have come together to share.
The facts are that if we took greater care and consideration with ourselves as well as each other then we could rightly claim to be providing hospitality in the truest sense of the word, in and through every angle of the industry; and we would have a sustainable pool of well-living staff to build the industry upon into the future, something which is poorly lacking at present and has been the case for the past 20+ years.
Health in Hospitality - Who We Are
We are both industry professionals who have piloted this programme based on our mutual love for people, the true well-being of community, and our care for workers in the Hospitality industry.
Between us we have a combined total of 65+ years in the industry both in Australia and overseas. We have, in our life, worked our way through the ranks of hospitality from the ground up and have held positions at all levels of Front of House, including Barista, Bar, Waiter, Restaurant Management, Event management, Guest Relations, Reservations and Operations.
Our love for people and for service has always been at the heart of everything we do; however, we each came to a point in our own lives where we realised we were living lifestyles that were not conducive to good or true health, experiencing a range of illnesses and lifestyle related problems that included being bloated or overweight, sleep issues, depression and drug and alcohol abuse; as well as dealing with regular relationship breakdowns. Within these realisations and life-changing moments, we each had to acknowledge the deeply felt understanding that the lack of care we were taking for ourselves was having a huge impact on our lives, and with humility also acknowledged the impact this was without question having on the care we were offering others.
This led each of us on a path to discovering what true health really was for ourselves, and how to live that. Along the way we had to adapt the changes we were making in our personal lives to that of our working life, as such it became necessary to find a new way to be in and with the industry, an industry with a culture that typically demands of its workers to put themselves last. We both had great success with this, finding that it is absolutely possible to live with a greater level of love for ourselves and stay working in the industry, and actually be an example of this possibility to others too. In reality it blows apart all the myths that suggest to be a ‘server’ you have to always put others first.
There is no doubt that every person drawn to work in the Hospitality industry as a career is a lover of people and of true service, and this is where the true potential of the industry always remains, in its innate warmth and generosity, and always with the honest intent and endeavour to look after and take care of others.
The Return to True Hospitality
The truth of Hospitality is that it is about building and developing relationships that are of a genuine and truly caring nature, and a mutually reciprocated care and respect between people. It is when we love ourselves first that the love we then share with others will be of a quality that is unmistakably real and deeply caring, and enriching way beyond the surface or peripheral level for everyone we come into contact with. Living this way offers a most inspiring reflection of how we are truly designed to be in relationship, not only with ourselves but also with every other person we come into contact with.
If we bring the needed correction the industry can thrive and survive, if we keep going the way we are going it will continue to become more and more punishing for those trying to keep themselves together in it. There is no need for workers to die young or old waiters to be ‘put out to pasture’. It is possible to build a strong and sustainable industry if we are to place true care and love at the centre of all that we do.