A Hobart bakery is selling a limited-edition T-shirt for Mental Health Week in a collaboration with mental health organisation SPEAK UP! Stay ChatTY.
Profits will support the organisation’s work to promote positive mental health and prevent suicide.
Stay ChatTY founder Mitch McPherson said the idea came from bakery staff who had been sent to do Mental Health First Aid training, which was run by a member of his team.
“Sometimes, the messages that stick with us the most are the simple ones that make us smile,” he said.
“Kindness doesn’t have to be complicated: it can be checking in on someone, making time for a chat or doing something that’ll make someone’s day a little easier.”
“Those small moments of connection can mean a lot, particularly when someone is having a difficult time.”
The shirt was designed by Hobart-born, Naarm-based artist David Booth, who works under the name Ghostpatrol and whose illustrations are part of the bakery’s branding.
He also created a limited-edition hoodie for Stay ChatTY’s Shorts Day earlier this year.
McPherson described the shirt design as “funky” and said it included bakery puns such as “we all knead kindness”, in line with this year’s Tasmanian Mental Health Week theme, “Appreciate the little things”.
Pigeon Whole Bakers co-founder Emma Choraziak-Patey said people underestimated the impact of small gestures.
“A kind word, taking the time to check in or simply showing someone a bit of understanding can mean more than we realise, especially when someone might be carrying more than you can see,” she said.
The bakery opened in Hobart in 2011 and now employs 70 people across three sites.
McPherson said a couple of hundred shirts had been ordered and there were no plans for another run unless demand was high.
He said profits would help Stay ChatTY keep delivering its presentations across Tasmania and that it was “really evident when a business wants to partner with you, when they wanna walk the talk”.
The oversized unisex tees are available in sizes S to 5XL from the Argyle Street store and the Stay ChatTY website.
