Preventing Suicide in the Construction Industry by Increasing Mental Health Awareness
Mental health awareness training is an essential investment in the construction industry. It plays a vital role in creating a work environment that is supportive of employee wellbeing. By reducing the stigma around mental health issues and empowering employees to take care of their mental health, organizations can provide employees with the tools and resources they need to perform at their best. Therefore, organizations should consider investing in mental health awareness training to create a more positive and productive work environment.
In 2013 I lost an employee to suicide without warning. 1200 people turned up to his funeral and wanted to talk to him. But he thought he could not talk to anyone.
Knowing very little about mental illnesses back then I struggled to support his new wife, his parents and my family (who were also very close to him).
I made a decision to educate myself so I would know more about what signs and symptoms to look out for and to build up my confidence to be able to talk and support someone who might be struggling.
Since then, I have had a best mate die by suicide and also found out that my
maternal grandfather also took his own life back in 1962. But as we know no-one spoke of this back then. My drive is to educate and normalise mental health and to treat it the same way as we do for a physical injury or illness. They are both real medical conditions.
My education included becoming a Mental health 1st Aid Instructor and over the past 4 years I have delivered the face to face full Mental Health 1st aid course to over 2000 people throughout Australia.
My aim is to build courses that are practical and small business focused, written by a small business and not a major Government backed organisation.