Nick's Journey with Greene King's Ability Committee and Mental Health Advocacy

TRIGGER WARNING: This blogpost contains sensitive content related to mental health and suicide. The following material may be distressing for some readers. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health issues or suicidal thoughts, please seek professional help immediately. Reader discretion is advised.

Ability, one of our Employee Led Inclusion Groups, aims to support people with visible and non-visible disabilities. People often think of disabilities as being physical, but around 1 in 4 people in the UK experience a mental health problem, which classes as a disability too, each year.

Our committee is hugely passionate about supporting mental health, which has previously led us to run a panel discussion with two Greene King employees and the founder of the Burnt Chef Project, a company created to tackle the stigma of mental health within the hospitality industry. One of the employees, and Ability committee members, joins us today to discuss mental health.

I have been with Greene King over 10 years now. I was originally part of the audit team and then seconded into the Risk Team for a new trial that was running. After a successful trial, I was offered a full-time position in the risk team as a Regional Risk manager. I currently oversee and manage 163 sites, covering all aspects of food safety, fire safety and other health & safety.

After spending a day in trade with Nick Mackenzie, discussing accessibility, he recommended that I join the Committee. I have to say that small steps make a big difference and I want to be part of the progressive change we can help drive forwards in such a big company.

Allyship is huge - I have received great support whilst being in Ability. The fundamental thing is if we all work together, we can make a step change that will have a huge impact on the culture of Greene King as a whole.

Having experienced how low you can go with my own struggles and my mental health followed by subsequent attempt to take my own life; I see why it is so high. Quite simply men do not talk, and this is a very real statistic in the modern society. We still use the term “Commit” suicide as though it’s a crime, which is how it used to be deemed a long time ago.

It’s not a crime now, but it still faces stigma which stops people talking. Men need to be open to discussing how low they feel and through friendship and allyship they can. The demographic of the most vulnerable age group used to be 35-45 years old however that demographic has moved to 45-55 years old. I facilitate at my local Andy’s Man Club, and I can see the change in people when they talk, the weight is lifted, and you see the progress that they make. #itsokaytotalk

By promoting AMC and the fact that it's okay to talk and by being there for that one person that may need to talk. The happiest person who is the life and soul of the party is often the person who is deflecting and by this I mean that they don’t want to be asked if they are ok. I read something about a guy who held a massive party for his birthday and was a brilliant host, everyone loved the evening and party. They left saying it was the best party they had been to in years. 2 days later the guy took his own life by suicide only then did they realise that it was a goodbye party. Nobody saw it because he was deflecting. If this teaches us anything it teaches us its not the one who you expect it’s the one that you don’t expect.

Make time for a coffee and chat with others, to just talk, and seek out local support groups, like Andy’s Man Club, which is a peer-on-peer support group for men that are struggling.

My advice is to ask a 2nd question “How are you doing today?” followed by “Are you really okay, do you fancy having a coffee and a chat?”. Mental health (men’s included) doesn’t only occur 1 week a year, it can be a daily struggle, so we need to ensure that this topic stays on our minds all year round. Let’s not stop talking about it!

Find out more about Andy’s Man Club, including where your local support group would be, or learn more about the Burnt Chef Project. 

Listen to Nick Sewell and Kris Hall's full panel.