It’s always a win when a place with some of the best food, ever, in this town … is run by people who are just as talented at being decent humans.
That’s why of course it’s Suerte’s Sam Hellman-Mass who started the Mike & Sherry Project in partnership with Capital Area Counseling (back in March of 2019) to support the mental health of people working in Austin’s restaurants and bars. Since then, the Project has provided more than 1,000 appointments for service folks in need of some helpful therapy.
You get the idea, citizen, that a program like this is even more vital right about now, when the world as we knew it is morphing into something much harder to deal with? I think we all know the sad answer to that. But the better part of the answer is that, through CAC and the fundraising efforts of the Mike & Sherry Project, members in Austin’s bar and restaurant industry can receive low-cost teletherapy services regardless of employment status due to dining room and bar closures. Pricing is determined by an income-based sliding scale, with appointments as low as $15.
Note: Funds raised by the Project go towards bridging the gap when clients are unable to pay the fee, and also to support an internship program with students from St. Edwards, UT Arlington, UT Austin, and Seminary of the Southwest.
You want to learn more about this excellent Project and what it provides, click here.
You want to donate to this program, whether you avail yourself of its resources or just because you happen to have the bucks and you, too, are a decent human being? Or maybe specifically as a way to pay back all those bartenders and waiters who listened to your problems and worries throughout the years? Well, here’s your chance.
Everybody misses everybody, am I right? Let’s not miss doing what we can to hang in there – and to help others hang in there, too.
This article appears in May 8 • 2020.