Shawn Soole
“I have terrible social anxiety. Behind the bar, I’m a king, but put me in a room full of people, and I’ll have a panic attack.”
Victoria bartender and hospitality entrepreneur Shawn Soole doesn’t shy away from discussing his mental health challenges. Arguably the city’s best-known bartender, the Australia native helped put Victoria on the craft cocktail map when he managed the bar at Clive’s Classic Lounge from 2009 to 2013. After that, he ran Little Jumbo Restaurant and Bar, also acclaimed for its drinks. But it hasn’t always been easy. Soole says when you work in hospitality, “even if you’ve had a tough day, you have to put on a happy face when you go out on the floor,” which leads people to cover up their problems.
Soole wants to make frank discussions about mental health acceptable. For the past two years, he’s produced a twice-a-week podcast called Post Shift, where he interviews bartenders, distillery owners, restaurateurs, and others in the industry. He discusses substance misuse, talks with chefs dealing with depression or anxiety, and highlights the struggles of those connected to the industry. He even interviewed his wife about how his work schedule affects their relationship.
Through the podcast, and through informal conversations with younger bartenders, Soole says he’s trying to mentor those working their way up. “From the outside looking in, it seems like bartenders like myself have everything figured out, but your mental health issues don’t go away when you start succeeding.”
Soole has also gotten involved with Mind the Bar, a Vancouver-based resource and referral organization that offers hospitality professionals access to therapy and other support services. Vancouver restaurateurs Shoel Davidson and Christina Cottell co-founded Mind the Bar in 2018, when Davidson went public with his own struggles with depression. After Soole interviewed Davidson last year for the Post Shift podcast, their conversation about making open discussions about mental health more accepted in the hospitality world continued to resonate with him. Soole now serves on Mind the Bar’s board and is working to launch the organization’s Vancouver Island chapter.
Soole encourages managers and owners to talk openly when an employee comes to them needing help or when they see a staffer misusing drugs or alcohol. He also wants fellow bartenders to feel comfortable supporting their colleagues. “When your buddy comes in and says he’s having a bad day, nine times out of ten you pour him a shot, fanning the flames,” for people who may be dealing with substance misuse.
Soole is a busy guy: he runs a hospitality consulting company, Soole Hospitality Concepts; he recently co-founded Coalition Craft Co. to distribute craft spirits on the Island; and he’s the author of two books, Cocktail Culture (2013) and Great Northern Cocktails (2019), with a third book on the way. He’s also back at Clive’s, which he calls “my baby,” working about 35 hours a week, including weekend shifts at the bar. “I’m going on 40 this year. Working 50 hours behind the bar is not something my body can take anymore. Besides, the younger people in Victoria’s cocktail scene are so ridiculously talented.”
“Working 50–60 hours a week shouldn’t be a badge of honour anymore,” he adds. “We joke about not having a work–life balance, but we shouldn’t impose this onto an 18-year-old kid that’s just starting in the industry.”
In any hospitality venture, though, Soole notes that you’re often one problem away from failure, whether it’s a burst water main or a global pandemic that shuts everything down. “I’ve had my own personal failures,” he says, “but those failures set us up in how we bounce back.”
Soole’s Post Shift podcast has given him a platform to help people understand that they’re not alone when things get tough. The reward? “It’s those random messages, from bartenders I’ve never met, from all over the world. It’s people reaching out and saying ‘thank you.’”
