“Two people working in the UK construction industry die by suicide every day.” Mates in Mind, 2022
Our North-West region has been holding on site events to tackle the stigma around mental health within our industry. The events were led by our Regional Mental Health First Aiders and supported by guest speaker James Flaherty, Training Manager from RG Wilbrey.
The mental health stand downs aimed to give confidence to people to speak up about their mental health. This important step for change will help raise awareness, improve understanding, and address the industry stigma around mental ill health.
The first event was held at our Manchester Metropolitan University Science and Engineering Building project. All 150 staff, subcontractors and visitors to site were stood down from working and asked to take time pause for 20 minutes and listen to James. He spoke about his own journey through mental ill health, the stages of poor mental health, signs and symptoms, poor self-esteem, acceptance, healing, recovery and the importance of building personal resilience.
James also spoke at the second event held at our Angel Square project in the NOMA area of the city. More than 100 members of the site were joined by representatives from our client, MEPC, who had heard about the events and were keen to offer their support.
“It was wonderful to see the LAR team being a part of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Stand Down on site at MMU. It is great to see businesses like Bowmer and Kirkland raising awareness and encouraging people to open up about any issues they may be dealing with”.
Ross Campbell, Project Manager – LAR Ltd (B+K Supply Chain Partner)