Kelly’s Cause was founded in honour of Kelly, a warm, hilarious, and very talented chef.
Kelly loved hospitality, she lived and breathed it.
She worked and ate in some of the best restaurants in the capital.
The harsh conditions, long hours, and intensity of life in hospitality took its toll on Kelly’s mental health and she took her own life in 2018, at just 23 years old. It wasn’t just working as a chef that led to Kelly’s suicide, but it was a major contributing factor.
We are committed to changing the industry for the better through training, education, and support.
Hospitality is such a unique industry and one we believe you can only really understand if you’ve worked within it. Everyone who is a part of the Kelly’s Cause team has many years experience working within the industry, allowing us to fully understand the the realities of the profession.
Meet the team
Tobie-Anna Durk
Founder
Tobie-Anna is a professional chef who trained at Le Cordon Bleu London where she met Kelly. Having worked across London she became head chef of the acclaimed restaurant Kricket in Brixton.
Following the suicide of her dear friend, Tobie-Anna combined her passions of hospitality and mental health and started Kelly’s Cause. Her aim is to honour Kelly’s legacy and take tangible steps towards improving the mental health of all those within hospitality.
Rachel Kerr-Lapsley
Managing Director
Rachel is Kelly’s Cause Managing Director. Her restaurant experience spans 15 years at all levels of the industry, most recently as an FOH manager.
Originally from Canada, she got too many arts degrees and served approximately 3874298374 cups of coffee before making her home in London. She is passionate about creating better working conditions for folks in the industry and elevating voices traditionally undervalued.
Melissa Tomsett
Head of Development
Mel is a People Professional, with over 20 years hospitality experience across Newcastle, Scotland and London.
After studying Neuroscience, Mel returned to a hospitality career in Glasgow and has not looked back since. From pulling pints in Newcastle to running multiple sites in London, to supporting global businesses with L&D and heading up the People function of SMEs, her love of nurturing people and striving to do the best by her team has always been at the heart of all she does. She’s found a home with us here at Kelly’s Cause, alongside her own consultancy business HR x MT
Melanie White
Content Manager
Mel is Content Manager at Kelly's Cause. She spent her teens waiting in a local social club and after tucking away her chemistry degree, spent her twenties working in the luxury yachting industry as a chef, navigating all the demands that hospitality puts us through!
She is a mental health activist - passionate about forging holistic, encouraging work spaces that make us want to leap out of bed in the morning. She is also author of Behind Ocean Lines - The Invisible Price of Accommodating Luxury and juggles Kelly's Cause alongside her son, Alfred!
MHFA Trainers
Emma Ross
Emma is a Chef, MHFA Instructor and Facilitator. From South Africa originally, Emma began working in restaurants as FOH all throughout university - serving up sass, style and steak - whilst completing her degree in Psychology. Emma transitioned to pursuing a career on super yachts, working her way up to head chef while travelling the globe over a 15 year journey.
After settling down full time in London and continuing to chef in notable central London restaurants, she made the career change to become a fully qualified MHFA Instructor. Emma delivers training for Kelly’s Cause and her own organisation Seas the Mind which supports the mental health of those working at sea. She is dedicated to promoting well being, providing education and resources and building connections and conversations throughout hospitality in the UK.
David Paulin
David is a Project Manager, MHFA Instructor and Facilitator. He began working in hospitality at the age of 18 and since then has undertaken a wide variety of FOH roles in both Belfast and London. From bartender to waiter to barista to FOH Manager, David has worked in a range of settings including small independent coffee shops to high profile central London restaurants. His favourite thing about hospitality is the combination of great food and interesting people.
David is also a trained actor who has facilitated workshops in a number of different community spaces such as care homes, mainstream schools and young offenders centres. He now works as a Project Manager, planning and delivering programmes which use creativity as a tool in order to improve wellbeing, create social connections and affect change.
Adrian Thomas
Adrian is a lead MHFA instructor and facilitator. He spent 19 years in hospitality before his own challenges with his mental health while working in the industry led him to complete his MHFA instructor training and make mental health training and advocacy his full-time job.
Passionate about supporting others through learning, Adrian believes the best way to change culture, reduce stigma and discrimination and develop acceptance is through education. He brings this to all of his work for The Resilience and Wellbeing Company. He is a proud member of their Human Library delivering lived experience talk on his lifelong struggles with poor mental health and surviving suicide ideation.