Suicide prevention charity Andy’s Man Club teams up with national housebuilder to drive awareness
Andy’s Man Club and housebuilder Persimmon teamed up for a mental health awareness event for site managers at the MKM Stadium in Hull(Image: supplied image)
Suicide prevention charity Andy’s Man Club (AMC) and national housebuilder Persimmon have teamed up to shine a light on mental health in the construction industry. Josh Anderson, the charity’s lead for East Yorkshire, spoke to a group of Persimmon’s site managers at the event hosted by the housebuilder at the MKM Stadium in Hull.
The aim of the talk was to inform employees working on site of the support available to them, including the groups and activities provided by AMC. Poor mental health has long been an issue the wider construction industry has sought to address.
Statistics over recent years suggest a disproportionately high number of people die by suicide in the construction industry. Project 7000 – The Lost City [thelostcity.org] is one campaign that highlights ‘the city that will never be built’ because the 7,000 construction workers it would take to build it have died by suicide in the past decade.
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Industry-wide initiatives and campaigns have been working to address some of the pressures and issues faced by employees working in the industry, focusing on improving working environments and providing mental health support to employees. Josh said: “I was delighted to be invited to deliver a presentation and discuss mental wellbeing, especially with so many males working in construction.
“As Project 7000 -The Lost City campaign has highlighted, sadly 7,000 people in the construction industry have died by suicide in the last decade, so it’s great to be able to come to speak to construction workers on how Andy’s Man Club can help in relation to awareness around mental wellbeing.” Scott Waters, regional managing director for Persimmon, said: “We’re grateful that Josh was able to join us and talk about the support that Andy’s Man Club provides in this region and beyond.
“We are all too aware of the need to address poor mental health across the construction industry and so it was powerful to hear Josh talk so candidly about some of the issues he has faced personally. As a national housebuilder, we’re working with mental health organisations at both a national and regional level to implement better support services internally but also help signpost people to the support offered by fantastic charities like Andy’s Man Club.”