Comstock's magazine 1119 - November 2019 | Seite 79

SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL SECTION
Sacramento-area restaurants have
experienced this firsthand, with a spate
of suicides in 2018 due to mental illness
and substance abuse that occurs in higher
rates in the service industry. Patrick Mul-
vaney, chef and co-owner of Mulvaney’s
B&L, counted four deaths, including friend
Noah Zonca, a former fixture of The Kitch-
en. “I was off for weeks,” says Mulvaney.
“Still it hurts that he left.”
The tragedies prompted Mulvaney to
create the I Got Your Back project, with
the support of the Innovation Learning
Network, UC Davis Medical Center, Sut-
ter Health and WellSpace Health, among
others. Part mental-wellness program,
part grassroots movement, IGYB helps
employers in the hospitality industry con-
nect workers with the resources they need
to support their own mental health and
that of their peers. Twenty restaurants in
the Sacramento area, including Binchoyaki
Izakaya Dining, Scott’s Seafood on the Riv-
er, Selland Family Restaurants and Paraga-
ry Restaurant Group, now offer peer-
counseling training to their employees
through the pilot program.
Though geared toward hospitality
workers, Mulvaney hopes the program
will inspire adaptations tailored to fit any
industry.
IGYB is part of a promising trend; Cali-
fornia employers are beginning to reshape
company cultures around psychological
wellness and individual needs, helped
along by funding provided by the California
Mental Health Services Act and encour-
aged by a 2018 law that authorizes the
state to establish voluntary standards for
mental health in the workplace.
Mulvaney agrees that leaders have a
special role in setting standards for em-
ployee care and well-being, including tak-
ing care of themselves. “I think the first,
most concrete step you can do as a leader
is to acknowledge that we all have strug-
gles,” he says. “Exposing my vulnerability
has only served to increase my strength.”
Here are steps employers can take to
lay the groundwork for a holistic, collabo-
rative employee support system.
ADJUSTING LEADERSHIP
STYLES AND COMPANY
CULTURE IS THE KEY TO
IMPROVING ADVERSE
CONDITIONS AND CURBING
EMPLOYEES MISSING 3-5
DAYS A MONTH BECAUSE OF
WORKPLACE STRESS.
PROVIDE FULFILLING ROLES
According to Dr. Peter Yellowlees, chief wellness officer at UC Davis Health, mental well-
ness in the workplace begins with fulfilling work. He’s an expert on the mental health
of physicians, who have a suicide rate more than twice that of the general population,
and he recommends that health systems and hospitals have all employees “working at
the top of their licenses and not doing the sort of silly busywork that could be done by
someone else.” Not all workplaces define levels of expertise as specifically as hospitals,
but employers can still try to match their employees’ tasks to their skills and training.
Allow employees the space to express whether or not they feel fulfilled in their daily roles.
November 2019 | comstocksmag.com
79