Butcombe Brewery is launching a new initiative aimed at increasing awareness of mental health issues among its team members and customers.
The brewery and pub group, with sites in the south-west and Channel Islands, has joined forces with mental health charity MIND to offer team members the opportunity to complete a mental health awareness course.
The course will enable participants to recognise when team members and customers might be suffering from poor mental, so they can offer support and put them in contact with MIND.
Alongside the mental health awareness course, Butcombe Brewery will be launching MIND Mondays – weekly coffee afternoons to encourage people to meet, talk more and enjoy a free coffee or tea every Monday from 3pm – 6pm.
The first event took place yesterday, Monday 20th January, to coincide with ‘Blue Monday’, and the initiative will run until the end of February 2020.
Jonathan Lawson, CEO, Liberation Group (Owners of Butcombe Brewery) said: “Mental health issues are common and likely to affect one in four of us during our lifetimes.
“The pub has long been somewhere where people can see a friendly face and have a chat so we wanted to encourage this even more by launching MIND Mondays to provide a safe haven for those who may need to chat or just be in the company of others.
“Recent studies have shown pubs can act as hubs for some lonely, isolated and vulnerable individuals and that this can make a real difference in their lives.
“At the same time, we have a responsibility to look after over 800 team members across our managed estate so it’s important that this new emphasis on mental health makes a real and genuine impact.”
MIND has offices in Bristol, Jersey and Guernsey and Liberation Group/Butcombe Brewery will be working with them on a regional basis alongside the central offices in London.
Butcombe Brewery sites in and around Bath include The Pig & Fiddle, Broad Street Townhouse, the Quarryman’s Arms and the Methuen Arms.
