Dr Vanessa Moulton, co-founder of Ownminder, explains that the risk of suicide within the property and construction industry is three times higher than the male national average, equating to two people every day taking their own lives. 

A UK construction worker is six times more likely to die from suicide, than from falling from a height. 40% of men do not want to talk about their mental health and two-thirds of operatives who have taken time off for mental ill health have hidden reasons for doing so from their employer.

Furthermore, 75% of people with mental health issues don’t receive treatment at all, with the latest research revealing that fewer people than ever asked for help during the Covid pandemic.

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Looking after the mental health of construction workers

Looking after the physical health of workforces within construction has always been a priority. However, it has only been in recent times that the mental health of workforces is now being supported, with it only being brought into health and safety regulations in 2018.

And with stats like those stated above, it couldn’t have come soon enough.

During my years as a psychologist, it’s clear we need to steer the mental health narrative to make people understand what they can do to take a positive and proactive approach to their own mental ill health prevention.

It’s not all about offering people help and support to those at crisis point. We need to help people understand their minds so that they can look after their psychological health before it gets to this stage.

What companies can do to support their workforce

Companies in construction can play a vital role in this too, by giving their workforces the strategies and tools to contribute towards their own psychological welfare from a positive and proactive standpoint.

Employees need to be offered psychological PPE as well as physical PPE with regards to health and safety within the workplace. You wouldn’t allow employees on a construction site without a hard hat on, so why would you ignore protective measures towards their own psychological health.

Step forward Mind Fitness

Mind Fitness is about promoting positive mental health. It is about giving people the right tools and strategies that can be easily incorporated into daily lives, to build up mental strength and resilience.

BUT it is also about changing the narrative around psychological health, by using positive language and more relevant terminology that helps cast off its negative stigma.

We are just at the beginning of the journey. So much more needs to be done by the industry. We all need to unite, collaborate and work hard over the next few years to bring about proper change when it comes to mental health and wellbeing within the sector.

Ownminder app

To help with this journey, I co-founded Ownminder, an app-led Mind Fitness training solution built by the construction industry, for the construction industry to help tackle its mental ill health issues.

Ownminder allows users to have access to mind fitness tools and strategies 24 hours a day; for people to be able to have the toolkit to be more self-reliant with their mental health. It also involves leadership training, which is so key to mind shifts and culture change.

We must continue to be pivotal and pioneering, ensuring approaches and strategies evolve and support in the best way possible, especially in these changing and challenging times.

But most importantly, we must continue the conversation around mental health in the construction industry, making sure it never stops.

Dr Vanessa Moulton is a Chartered Psychologist and co-founder of Ownminder. For more information on how Ownminder can help you and your business, email [email protected].