Convo Plate art event puts mental health on the table for local chefs: Andrew Coppolino

Chefs and restaurant owners from Waterloo region, Guelph and Wellington County put down their knives and picked up paint brushes for a unique workshop this week.

The chefs and restaurateurs were part of a group of more than a dozen people painting a Convo Plate. Launched in 2016, Convo Plate was conceived by the Paul Hansell Foundation, an organization that aims to get people talking about mental health through art.

Jared Ferrall, co-owner of Crafty Ramen, hosted the event. Ferrall said he wanted to create more awareness within the local restaurant industry, a sector marked by mental health issues and perhaps especially so since the pandemic.

"Mental health issues affect a lot of people in this industry, and I don't think there's enough resources," he said. "So any awareness we can bring to it is great."

A mental health conversation starter

The Convo Plate art class was led by instructor and ceramic studio technician Michelle Lynn of Art Gallery of Burlington.

As part of the project, hand-painted ceramic plates are created by people, then circulated in the community. Founder Brian Hansell said they can't control where the plates go, but "we just hope that they get passed along and keep the conversation going."

Hansell's son, Paul, died by suicide in 2010 when he was 18 years old. His death inspired the Burlington-based foundation to create the Convo Plate initiative.

Paul's age helped focus the foundation's goal to particularly support the mental well-being of youth while attempting to break its stigma and encourage more young people to seek assistance when it comes to their mental health.

So far, some of the 1,000 Convo Plates that have been conceived, painted and fired have made it to six continents; one has even circumnavigated the globe, Hansell said.

A plate was also sent to Kensington Palace, and the foundation hopes to get one into the hands of the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Convo Plates have been painted by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, Margaret Trudeau, former lieutenant-general in the Canadian Armed Forces Roméo Dallaire among other government officials.

A good place to start

Ferrall says he believes the issue of addressing mental health in the restaurant industry is getting better, but there's still a way to go.

"I don't know if it has gotten any worse, but it's still a problem. There's more of a light on it in general, so it's come more into focus," he said.

Jon Rennie, chef and co-owner of Kitchener's Odd Duck Wine and Provisions, agrees.

As an advocate on social media of recognizing and improving mental health issues in the industry, including his own, Rennie's Convo Plate stated: "Growth and healing aren't linear." 

He says work still needs to be done, especially given the pandemic's negative mental health effects on the food and beverage landscape.

"I think there are spaces where the conversations are getting broader and steps are being taken toward improvement, but I've also seen it go the other way," Rennie said.

Addressing that is a good part of what the Convo Plate project is about. In his experience working with a range of community groups, Hansell and the Foundation have found that it doesn't matter whether it is chefs or young hockey players learning about the stigma around mental health.

"This is about life skills," Hansell said. "And keeping the mental health conversation going."