RESEARCH + EVIDENCE
Better support starts with better understanding.
Hospitality is its own working environment. We believe the solutions designed for it should be grounded in evidence from the industry itself.
Healthy Mind Menu invests in research, industry consultation and collaboration so that our programs aren't built on assumptions.
We want every dollar entrusted to us to help create work that is credible, relevant and capable of making a meaningful difference to hospitality people and workplaces.
EVIDENCE → ACTION
LISTEN. LEARN. BUILD.Research shaped with hospitality. Resources designed for hospitality.
WHY RESEARCH MATTERS
Good intentions aren't enough.
Mental health initiatives should respond to what hospitality workers actually experience — not what we assume they experience.
Hospitality has distinct working conditions, cultures, pressures and protective factors.
Understanding those realities helps us decide where our resources are most useful, what workplaces need and where the greatest opportunities for prevention may sit.
HOW WE WANT TO WORK
Evidence-based. Industry-informed. Useful in practice.
Evidence
Look beyond assumptions and use credible research to understand the factors affecting mental health and wellbeing at work.
Hospitality
Keep the realities of venues, kitchens, hotels, restaurants, bars and hospitality careers at the centre of the work.
Co-design
Listen to workers, leaders, venues and industry stakeholders when developing practical responses.
Impact
Translate knowledge into tools, training and resources people can actually use — rather than research that simply sits on a shelf.
HEALTHY MIND MENU × EDITH COWAN UNIVERSITY
Understanding mental health in WA hospitality.
Healthy Mind Menu partnered with the Centre for Work + Wellbeing at Edith Cowan University to investigate mental health and wellbeing within Western Australia's hospitality sector.
The work was made possible through fundraising and the support of hospitality venues that recognised the need for better industry-specific evidence.
THE RESEARCH REPORT
The State of Mental Health & Wellbeing for Western Australian Hospitality Workers
2023–2024
The report brings together insights from the research project and provides a clearer picture of the psychosocial factors affecting people working across hospitality in Western Australia.
Read the findings.
Enter your details below to receive the full research report prepared by the ECU Centre for Work + Wellbeing.
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RESEARCH TEAM
Academic expertise. Industry partnership.
The report was prepared through the ECU Centre for Work + Wellbeing. Healthy Mind Menu acknowledges the researchers whose expertise contributed to the project.
Dr Esme Franken
Professor Tim Bentley
Associate Professor Ben Farr-Wharton
Dr Hossein Ali Abadi
Dr Abid Hussain
RESEARCH → PRACTICE
The report wasn't the end of the project.
Research is most valuable when it changes what happens next.
What affects mental health and wellbeing in hospitality?
HMM partnered with ECU to investigate the WA hospitality sector.
The findings highlighted workplace hazards and factors capable of protecting wellbeing.
The research informed practical leadership education for hospitality workplaces.
ONE OUTCOME OF THE RESEARCH
Wellbeing in Hospitality for Leaders.
The findings were translated into practical leadership education designed specifically for hospitality workplaces.
The online course helps owners, managers and emerging leaders better understand the pressures affecting their teams and the workplace factors that can help protect wellbeing.
Explore the leadership course
RESEARCH
SHOULDN'T
JUST BE
THERE IS STILL MORE TO UNDERSTAND
Hospitality remains under-researched.
We have learnt a great deal — but the evidence base for mental health and wellbeing in hospitality still has important gaps.
Much of the available workplace mental health research is broad. It isn't always hospitality-specific, locally relevant or designed around the particular realities of this workforce.
Different roles, venue types, regions, employment arrangements, career stages and workplace cultures can produce very different experiences.
That's why HMM believes continued research and industry participation matter.
QUESTIONS STILL WORTH ASKING
There's more work to do.
Who is most at risk?
Better understanding differences across roles, career stages and working arrangements.
What actually works?
Evaluating interventions and identifying which workplace changes produce meaningful outcomes.
What does local context change?
Building evidence that reflects Western Australian, regional and hospitality-specific realities.
How do we prevent harm earlier?
Moving beyond crisis response toward healthier systems, cultures and conditions of work.
WHY THIS MATTERS TO OUR SUPPORTERS
Fundraising should create more than activity.
Healthy Mind Menu is entrusted with donations, partnerships and industry support.
We believe that comes with a responsibility to invest carefully: to understand the problem, involve the people affected, work with credible expertise and build resources with a clear purpose.
Research is part of how we make better decisions about where that investment can have the greatest value.
EVIDENCE FOR HEALTHIER HOSPITALITY
Understand the industry. Then build for it.
Help us continue building knowledge, partnerships and evidence-informed resources for hospitality.