‘If you can’t handle the heat, let’s turn down the temperature in the kitchen’

A decade after his own mental health struggles, London-based chef and restaurateur, Sam Harrison, has been dishing up support for mental health causes by adding an optional £1 to every bill.

For one week in October, guests at any of Sam’s four dine-in establishments in Brentwood, Chiswick and Hammersmith had the option to donate to the Charlie Waller Trust, which supports young people by providing free mental health training. Now, the totals are in and the initiative has raised £1,200.

Helen Franks, corporate partnerships manager at Charlie Waller, said: “We so appreciate the generosity of Sam’s guests for supporting this initiative. The money raised will enable us to continue our vital mental health training in schools, colleges, universities, workplaces and direct to families.”

Sam’s passion for supporting mental health causes stems from his own experience. The stress of a hectic work schedule, combined with pain as he recovered from lower back surgery, brought his mental health to boiling point.

“When I had two restaurants in 2014, I had a mental breakdown and had to spend some time in hospital,” said Sam. “The pressure of running two places and the hours involved eventually took its toll.”

Ten years on and Sam feels strongly about protecting his own employees from similar levels of workplace stress.

He said: “Hospitality is a busy industry; there will always be long hours and a certain amount of pressure, but I do want my team to have the right work-life balance and support.

“For us, that means having enough staff in place to avoid burnout, giving free access to a dedicated wellbeing app and we also have an employee assistance programme so people can access support and counselling.

“The old saying goes ‘if you can’t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen’ but I think wellbeing and work-life balance is so important now, we need to be looking at how we can just turn down the temperature, especially if we want to encourage the next generation of hospitality workers to see it as a viable, healthy career.”

The Charlie Waller Trust is named after Charlie, who took his own life in 1997, whilst suffering from depression.