the growing foodservice sector. Even before the global pandemic turned the industry on end, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) was reporting that the food/beverage/hospitality industry ranked No. 1 for substance misuse.
“This poll hasn’t been conducted since, but we anticipate that the statistics are probably worse and not better,” says Jasmin Parks-Papadopoulos, chief growth offi cer at Culinary Hospitality Outreach and Wellness (CHOW), an organization that offers a range of services that include both mental health support and workforce development programs. Based on CHOW’s inclusive defi nition of the industry’s workforce, which includes not just chefs and servers but also food suppliers and grocers, there are currently 29 workers for every licensed clinical mental health provider in the United States. “We currently outnumber the
profession 29 times over,” Parks- Papadopoulos says. “We were staggered by those statistics in an industry that’s growing at such an incredible pace.”
Talking About the Hidden Pain CHOW started in Denver six years
ago when Founder John Hinman experienced his own recovery and sobriety journey. Upon returning to the hospitality industry, Hinman asked: “How can we talk about the pain that you can’t see within the food/beverage/ hospitality industry?” Wanting to answer his own question, he invited a group of people to come to his bakery to discuss “what hurts and where it hurts.”
Famed chef and TV host Anthony
Bourdain had just taken his own life a few days before that meeting, so the topic of mental health was very fresh in everyone’s minds. “Having a few folks in the bakery for a small conversation ended up being a packed room full of people that were incredibly activated
Photos courtesy of CHOW. Fall 2024 27
and moved,” Parks-Papadopoulos says. “At that point, John recognized an imminent need to create a protected space where people could have conversations centered around mental health, wellness and recovery.” With that, CHOW was born as a volunteer and grassroots movement that’s since expanded into a multifaceted organization focused on improving the lives of individuals in and around the foodservice industry. “Our mission is to support the lives of food/ beverage/hospitality workers through shared stories, skills and resources,” Parks-Papadopoulos explains. “We’ve developed programming to support that goal while also maximizing our reach over the last six years.”
Creating Protected Spaces Because its very mission is rooted in
opening lines of communication in foodservice and related industries, CHOW’s core offering is free discussion groups that make it easy to join and participate. These protected spaces maintain confi dentiality both online and in person and CHOW currently hosts eight of them per week in both English and Spanish. There are dedicated spaces for men and women, and the discussions
are moderated by CHOW EXPOS, or individuals who are trained to assist others in their recovery. “These conversations address issues
affecting workplace wellness; they address every individual’s successes and struggles,” Parks-Papadopoulos says. “They’re the kind of spaces where you can go talk about what’s been on your mind and leave with actionable tips and resources.”
The CHOW EXPOS are also trained to offer post-call support and recommend additional resources as needed. Parks-Papadopoulos likens the discussion groups to a “community healing model” whereby participants support one another and cover the blind spot left by the fact that the foodservice industry is hiring new workers at a pace that the mental health fi elds simply can’t keep up with — not even factoring the barriers to traditional therapy, like cost, accessibility and scheduling.
A Saner, Safer Industry for Everyone
When CHOW moved all its services online during the pandemic, it opened up the doors to individuals in other countries to join the important conversations that it was having. Today,
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