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More Resources for Operators and Employees 4/14

April 15, 2020

Good Morning Operator,

In talking with many of you, I know that so many of you are checking in regularly with your employees and managers who are not on site during this time. When your team was together each day, it was certainly easier to be there for one another, share in successes and the spirit of teamwork, and create a positive and uplifting work environment. Our current status is a whole different beast and while so many are taking measures to ensure co-workers and industry colleagues are supported through relief measures, meals and supplies, it is critical that we all touch base with one another during this time to be supportive as mental health and substance dependencies may be increasingly prominent.  Difficult times resonate differently with people and we want to be mindful of that and will continue to offer resources and connections to professionals that can assist in hopes that it is helpful to you and your teams. We recently shared these links available on our blog and are sharing additional tools below. 

My colleagues from across the country are finding that their operators are in need of support in this area and some are organizing webinars and other learning opportunities for management and staff. Restaurant industry non-profit The Giving Kitchen in Georgia has a free suicide prevention training in partnership with QPR Institute. Click here to sign up to receive the free training session. RAMW will organize a webinar for our community if we hear from you that this would be of interest. Please email coronavirus@ramw.org to let us know. 

The National Restaurant Association has two upcoming free webinars in partnership with Unilever on related topics:

  • Thursday April 16th at 2pm: Practical Mental Health for the Foodservice Industry; click here to register
  • Thursday April 23rd at 2pm: Motivation for Nutrition & Physical Wellness for the Foodservice Community; Click here to register

Other Resources: 

If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.

DC has a 24/7 helpline through the Department of Behavioral Health at 1-888-793-4357 or visit www.dbh.dc.gov. Also Whitman-Walker Health is offering telehealth visits.  

In VA, NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) operates a toll-free HelpLine to provide information and resources to callers who are seeking information about mental illness topics. This is not a crisis hotline, but they can assist with locating support about mental illness, education, support, and recovery during COVID-19.  Call 1-888-486-8264 or email info@namivirginia.org.

Other Free Training Resources 

Last week the National Restaurant Association and the ServSafe team launched two new training videos—ServSafe Takeout: COVID-19 Precautions and ServSafe Delivery: COVID-19 Precautions. These videos are free to operators, to reinforce safe food handling during the coronavirus outbreak. In addition, we shared previously that they made their standard, ANSI accredited, online ServSafe Food Handler training program available free of charge through April 30, 2020.  They will also soon be announcing that restaurant workers will have the ability to access the ServSuccess Restaurant Professional and Restaurant Supervisor Learning Suites free of charge until April 30th. Click here to access the free training resources. 

More to come, as always. 

Stay safe. Stay kind. 

Best,

Kathy