Hospitality and Mental Health: Understanding the Service Industry's Unique Challenges
Nimble Counselling’s Alex Henderson knows firsthand the unique pressures of working in hospitality. Before becoming a counsellor, Alex spent years in the industry—navigating the fast pace, late nights, and emotional demands that come with service work. It was that lived experience that inspired him to pursue a career in mental health. In this blog, Alex takes us through the realities of working in hospitality, offers strategies for supporting yourself in a demanding environment, and explores how counselling can provide meaningful, sustainable support for those in the service industry.
When we think about mental health in the workplace, the conversation often turns toward office burnout, work-life balance, or corporate stress. Rarely do we give the same attention to the people who serve us food, prepare our cocktails, or clean our hotel rooms. Yet, the hospitality and service industry is one of the most mentally and emotionally demanding sectors. In British Columbia—home to iconic tourist towns like Whistler, Squamish, and Revelstoke—hospitality and tourism are not just a part of the culture, they are the backbone of local economies. In Vancouver alone, over 11% of the population works in hospitality, making it the third-largest employment sector in the region.
With long hours, irregular schedules, high emotional labour, and often toxic workplace dynamics, mental health in hospitality deserves a focused, compassionate discussion.
What Mental Health Looks Like in the Service Industry
Unlike many other professions, the service industry is deeply client-facing. Whether it’s a barista making lattes, a line cook hustling through dinner service, or a front desk agent checking in guests, there’s an ever-present pressure to smile, be kind, and create a welcoming experience. However, what often gets hidden behind those smiles is an industry strained by emotional exhaustion.
Hospitality jobs frequently subject employees to the abuse of the employee-client relationship. In a “customer is always right” culture, workers are often required to absorb poor treatment, disrespect, or entitlement without retaliation. This dynamic can chip away at a person’s sense of dignity and self-worth, especially over time.
The barriers to entry in hospitality are typically low. That accessibility is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it provides opportunities to those without formal education or prior experience. On the other, it means the workplace is often a mix of people with vastly different coping mechanisms, maturity levels, and teamwork skills. In such high-pressure environments, poor communication and interpersonal conflict can escalate quickly.
Compounding these issues is the path to management in hospitality. Promotions often prioritize tenure or technical competence over emotional intelligence or leadership ability. As a result, many employees find themselves under managers who are ill-equipped to support or nurture a team, perpetuating cycles of toxic leadership and burnout.
In addition, the irregularity of hours and income makes it difficult for hospitality workers to maintain routines, attend appointments, or establish financial security—three things that are foundational to stable mental health.
Why Mental Health Matters in Hospitality
The service industry is uniquely difficult for those trying to protect or improve their mental health. It’s a minefield of triggers and emotional hurdles, some of which are baked into the very culture of the industry.
Alcohol is a pervasive presence in many hospitality roles, particularly in restaurants, bars, and hotels. Whether it’s post-shift drinks, tastings, or workplace celebrations, the line between casual drinking and habitual use can quickly blur. For those vulnerable to addiction, this creates an incredibly risky environment.
Work in hospitality can feel emotionally intense but simultaneously rewarding—an emotional rollercoaster that often mirrors toxic personal relationships. Workers might experience high praise one moment and humiliation the next, reinforcing unhealthy dynamics of validation and self-worth.
There is also a notable lack of boundaries. Hospitality workers are constantly relying on each other, and the nature of the work encourages camaraderie, sometimes to the point of codependency. With overlapping personal and professional lives, it becomes harder to maintain emotional distance or protect one's well-being.
The job itself is built on charm, collaboration, and customer satisfaction. Workers are expected to perform a version of themselves that’s endlessly pleasant, accommodating, and upbeat. That performative aspect can leave workers feeling detached from their real selves or drained by the constant effort to “be on.”
And despite all these challenges, hospitality is often romanticized—especially in fine dining or boutique hotel settings. There’s a narrative of passion, grit, and reward: that if you hustle hard enough, the tips will flow, and success will follow. While sometimes true, this idealization can mask the emotional cost of overwork and lead to unhealthy glorification of suffering for the sake of art or excellence.
Common Mental Health Issues in the Service Industry
Addiction
Addiction rates are disproportionately high in hospitality. The fast pace, late nights, access to alcohol, and the adrenaline-fueled highs and lows of service make it fertile ground for substance misuse. For many, substances become a coping mechanism, a social lubricant, or a way to decompress after high-stress shifts. Without intervention, addiction can escalate quickly in environments where it's normalized or even encouraged.
Depression
Hospitality can act as a mask for depression. Workers are trained to put others' needs first and suppress their own emotions for the sake of the customer experience. This performative service—smiling through the pain—aligns closely with depressive tendencies. It’s easy to go unnoticed because being cheerful is part of the job description.
Anxiety
Service work is, in many ways, a performance. There’s a pressure to anticipate customer needs, respond quickly, and manage numerous small crises without showing any visible signs of distress. This hyper-vigilance can lead to or worsen anxiety. Workers may become overly self-aware or critical, internalizing customer complaints or micromanagement as personal failings.
Burnout, Fatigue, and Chronic Stress
When you’re constantly on your feet, juggling multiple tables, orders, or requests with a smile, stress builds. Over time, it can lead to burnout—a state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion. Hospitality burnout often shows up as depersonalization (feeling disconnected from your work or clients), irritability, and emotional sensitivity. Workers may find themselves snapping at coworkers or struggling to recover after shifts.
Rage and Emotional Dysregulation
In high-stress environments, unprocessed emotions frequently explode. Rage, verbal outbursts, and passive-aggressive behavior are common. These emotional flare-ups often result from chronic stress and the inability to express discomfort safely. They affect everyone in the workplace—whether you're the one experiencing rage or on the receiving end. Left unaddressed, these emotional patterns can become ingrained and toxic.
How Counseling Can Help
Mental health support, especially in the form of counselling or therapy, can be life-changing for hospitality workers. While the idea of seeking therapy may seem intimidating or impractical, especially with chaotic schedules, access to flexible hours Nimble Counselling offers can make all the difference. The benefits are profound.
Unpacking and Processing
Each shift can carry emotional weight—an argument with a coworker, a rude customer, a manager’s dismissal. Left unchecked, these small wounds can accumulate. Therapy provides a safe space to unpack these moments, process emotions, and build resilience. By exploring these experiences, workers can understand what triggers them and begin to separate work-related emotions from their core sense of self.
Strengthening Boundaries
Boundaries can feel non-existent in hospitality. The line between helping a teammate and overextending yourself can be razor-thin. Counseling helps develop and practice setting healthy limits—both emotionally and physically. Boundaries allow workers to protect their time, energy, and mental space without sacrificing compassion or teamwork. (Read our blog on boundaries here)
Teaching Self-Care and Personal Support
Self-care might seem incompatible with hospitality’s demands, but it’s not a luxury—it’s a necessity. Counseling helps individuals redefine what self-care means in their context. Whether it’s learning how to decompress after a shift, say no to another pickup, or get better sleep, therapists can help create practical strategies that support mental well-being and prevent burnout.
General Support and Connection
Hospitality can feel isolating, even when surrounded by people. Therapy offers a form of unconditional support—someone to listen without judgment, help identify unmet needs, and encourage self-compassion. This external perspective can be the first step toward reclaiming a sense of control and well-being.
In the Meantime
Counselling is a phenomenal way to work towards sustainability in the field but it can also be a lengthy process and like all good cooking, it take time, dedication and effort. When looking for a counsellor it is important to find someone that feels like a good fit, a process in and of itself. Fortunately there are tools to hold us over while we search for the therapist who can help us find what we need to feel successful.
Meditation
Meditation is great way to regulate your nervous system and reduce the emotional baggage you are bringing into the work place. Whether you are feeling worn thin or struggling under the yoke of a tough manager, meditation helps to bring a sense of calm without relying on substances or fatigue to help us get the rest we need at the end of a long shift. Read our blog on mindfulness here.
Mutual Support
Not always the easiest option but opening up to a close friend or sympathetic coworker can help to lighten the burden that comes with a career in hospitality. It never ceases to amaze how industry folks bottle things up and taking the first step towards normalising these struggles can be a powerful source of connection. It is not a long term replacement for a therapy but it can help to alleviate some of the more acute stress while seeking counselling. Learn more about our need for human connection in our blog on loneliness in Vancouver.
“Packed Lunch”
It is not lost on us how difficult nutrition can be when we work in hospitality. Restaurant food is designed to impress, not to be eaten every day so when it is a regular part of our life, nutrition can become an afterthought. At Nimble we always aim to take a holistic view, which means we are looking at every possible contributor to your behaviour; past present and future. Nutrition is an important part of feeling good as ourselves and when this falls by the wayside the whole system struggles.
Activity
Many members of the industry orient towards the same activities on a ‘weekend’ that we do after a long shift; with that said it is important to regulate our health through physical activity. Cooking and serving are their own kind of exercise to be sure but it important to supplement long hours on the feet with some physical activity that makes us feel proud, happy or content in other ways as well. Ther cannot be only one source for these feelings, otherwise we risk losing ourselves to our jobs.
Final Thoughts
Hospitality is beautiful, demanding, artistic, chaotic, and deeply human. It's a world where connection matters, and every day brings a new challenge. But for all its glory, it's also a space that can eat away at a person’s mental health if support isn’t accessible or prioritized.
We need to normalize conversations about burnout, therapy, and emotional boundaries within hospitality. The myth of the tireless worker who never cracks under pressure needs
Nimble Counselling
At Nimble Counselling, we understand the unique mental health challenges faced by hospitality workers—whether you’re serving tables in downtown Vancouver or managing seasonal shifts in a resort town. We offer individual counselling tailored to the realities of service-based professions. Our team provides in-person therapy from our office in downtown Vancouver and online counselling across British Columbia, making support more accessible no matter your schedule or location. Whether you’re dealing with burnout, anxiety, depression, or simply need space to process your experience, our compassionate and holistic approach can help you build tools to navigate your work and life with more clarity and ease.
