Two cafes an Indian-origin man in Australia ran to train and employ those recovering from a mental illness are shutting down for lack of profitability, media reported on Monday.
Saurabh Bhargava, who helped set up the cafes under the Mental Illness Fellowship training programme, said the trainees’ “lives depend on the training… it’s a therapeutic approach which the cafes have”, The Canberra Times reported.
A spokesman for the Australian health minister said, “The decision had been made by the fellowship because the financial returns from the cafes were not covering the costs of running the programme.”
The two cafes, located in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) will be closed by June 12.
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