Mental heath is beoming an increasingly important topic to discuss openly, and with Mental Health Awareness Week coming up, this is being highlighted around the city. Not-for-profit mental health advocate platform So Let’s Talk is therefore taking over Manchester favourite The Oast House on Tuesday 16th May in support of Manchester’s hospitality industry, with a party and opportunity for those in the industry to get together and talk.
The collaboration between Franklin & Sons and So Let’s Talk comes with the news that a staggering half of all hospitality teams experience some form of negative mental health during their career. The organisers will be hosting a series of events in order to educate and empower the bar community during Mental Health Awareness Week, equipping bartenders with essential mental health tools.
So Let’s Talk will aim to help deliver the tools for operators within the hospitality industry to help mental well-being and to ultimately ‘#86 the silence‘ on mental health in the hospitality industry. The platform exists to provide education, events, training and activities on all aspects of mental, physical and financial health.
Working with hospitality focused individuals, businesses, groups, and organisations along with renowned experts from the fields of Mental Health, Nutrition, Exercise, Finance and beyond, in the Last three years So Let’s Talk has gone from an idea to delivering sessions to over 30,000 hospitality professionals around the UK.
Celebrating hospitality and how brands can support the health of hospitality professionals, the event will feature live music, with performances from Ada Francis and Chocolate Music Chocolate, plus a DJ set from Our House Is Your House. Plus, Shawn Sharpe AKA GoodGood Graffiti will be creating a live mural and Paddy Howley, founder of So Let’s Talk, will be leading an industry talk.
Alongside the event, artist Amy Kilner, known for her work in graphic design, motion design, NFT art and 3D design has created a piece of artwork for So Let’s Talk which will be revealed on the largest screen in Europe at Victoria Warehouse on Tuesday 16th. On the following day (May 17), So Let’s Talk will also host an open event at Speak In Code between 12-2pm for hospitality management and owners with a panel discussion topic: “How the drinks industry can support trade”.
James Stimson, Senior Brand Manager at Franklin & Sons: “Franklin & Sons are proud to be part of the movement to bring positive cultural change and support to all the remarkable people within our fantastic community. Most of the team and I come from a bartending background, so we understand some of the pressures and stresses prevalent within the hospitality industry.
“With the support from our bespoke sessions and mental health week events, we hope to help the community challenge, navigate, and alleviate the mental, physical, and financial stresses of the industry, and we are honored to play any part we can in that.”
Paddy Howley, co-founder of So Let’s Talk added: “Our mission is to 86 the silence! We recognised early on that the support of drinks brands would be key in that mission. Partnering with Franklin & Sons just made sense for us. We can’t wait to create more positive change together.”
You can get free tickets for the Tuesday celebration by filling in this survey from So Let’s Talk. The event will run from 6pm – 10pm at The Oast House, The Avenue, Courtyard, Manchester, M3 3AY.