Here at Fazenda, we recognise the importance of every single one of us looking after our mental health just as much as we would our physical health.

Last month, we signed a pledge with ‘Time to Change’, so we would like to tell you a bit more about this movement and what this important pledge signifies, Fazendeiros.

Who is Time to Change? 

This fantastic, fast-growing social movement is all about working on the way people think and act when it comes to mental health. It’s still commonplace for there to be stigma and discrimination around mental health topics, with many not considering it to be an important issue. ‘Time to Change’ are working hard to alter those viewpoints completely. Many people dismiss mental health as something that won’t affect them or someone they know, when in reality, it will affect 1 in 4 people each year.

‘Time to Change’ wants to bring mental health to light, helping people to become aware of it and how important it is that we nurture not only ours, but that of our colleagues too.

They are working with schools and employers all over the country to raise awareness. In fact, they’re currently working with more than 800 employers and supporting over 2000 schools!

Why did we sign? 

We recognise that mental health issues can affect anyone in any walk or life and in any industry. The hospitality industry with its long shifts, fast-paced & dynamic working environments, and anti-social hours has the power to be a catalyst for, or cause of, poor mental health of employees. We value the importance of good mental health, for our overall happiness and well-being. Because of this, the decision to sign the pledge and to put a plan into action came about; we realised as an organisation we needed to do more. We can’t just value good mental health, we need to actively create a culture where we can all talk about it as easily as our physical health, if we need and want to do so.

To do this, we’re evaluating and improving our employee policies and procedures, ensuring our managers are trained by experts on mental health in the workplace and we’re also promoting awareness about the fantastic Hospitality Action to our team members. Additionally, we’re introducing a new and very important role of ‘Well-being Representative’ into each restaurant who will lead communications and activities with the aim of breaking down any stigma towards mental health.

How we’re raising awareness 

Throughout July, our Managing Director Tomas Maunier visited each of our restaurant’s teams to raise awareness about mental health, breaking down barriers to talking about issues and signing the pledge with each team. We thought it is important that we speak to as many people as possible in our teams to let them know that they are truly not alone, and that their mental health has our wholehearted support.

We think that signing this pledge marks a major milestone for Fazenda. Tomás has started the conversation and we intend that our teams will continue it alongside the support from our Well-being Representatives and Managers in order to make a real positive change for our team members.

If you have any questions or comments, do share them with us below or over on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.