If you or someone you know needs crisis support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14, the Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467 and Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800 (for young people aged up to 25). More information and support with mental health is available at beyondblue.org.au and on 1300 22 4636.
Embrace Multicultural Mental Health supports people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
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The Sydney Gateway Project has received the Mates in Construction accreditation during an event that took place in Sydney on Wednesday (October 4).
Accreditation is given when a project engages at least 80 per cent of all workers on-site to complete the Mates General Awareness Training, a one-hour introductory course about what to look for in those needing help and how to encourage them to get the help they need.
It's also necessary to have a 1-in-20 ratio of volunteers on-site who have completed the Mates Connector Training - four hours about how to keep someone safe while connecting them to support.
In receiving a congratulatory plaque for reaching accreditation, Sydney Gateway Project's project director Andrew Deck has expressed his pride in the relationship they have built with Mates in Construction.
“We're very proud here at Sydney Gateway of what we've achieved with suicide prevention and mental health awareness. It's a key issue in the industry and it's a key issue for people in general. And we're very proud of the relationship we've got with Mates (in Construction). Thank you Brad (Parker) for all the work you and your team have done in helping us to achieve this accreditation. We have over a thousand people on the job who've been trained in general awareness and over a hundred people who've been through a four-day connector course, which is all about looking out for your mates and helping your mates.”
Mates in Construction is a non-profit organisation that has taken on the difficult task of addressing mental health and suicide prevention for people working within the construction industry.
C-E-O Brad Parker says the suicide rates in the workforce are concerning.
“We lose a building and construction worker every second day to suicide. They are eight times more likely to (commit) suicide than die from a workplace accident. And then we have the issue that, the most significant report that we've had ever done within any industry in the world was here in Australia, which was the AISRAP report, which identified that 93 per cent of construction workers who had suicided in the past, never sought professional help. So they either didn't know where to find it, they didn't want to, or the big one was, they weren't encouraged to.”
N-R-L star Lindsay Collins also took part in the event and was awarded a hammer with a double-sided engraving for completing a carpentry course.
The World Cup winner with the Kangaroos has been acknowledged as a Mates N-R-L ambassador for his work in mental health.
Mr Collins says it is becoming easier for workers to open up about their emotions, but initiatives such as Mates in Construction take those conversations a step further.
“Yeah, I think it's becoming more apparent these days with programs like Mates (in Construction) as well. But yeah, growing up, especially on the work site, you didn't really talk about your feelings too much, but there was always the smoko chats and stuff like that which were something if you needed to get it off your chest but I guess there probably wasn't really ever a follow-up after that as well, which is probably one of the big things about Mates (in Construction), is creating knowledge through other workers to sort of realise that and the potentially follow up on what they're hearing from different mates in their industry as well.”
He says having the option to work as a carpenter has allowed him to find an identity outside of football, something a lot of players struggle with.
“You're up here and then, you're back down here after football and you can get a little bit lost and sort of not know your purpose as well and I think that's what it's about. This period now, it's trying to find your purpose outside of football and not being just identified as a football player sort-of-thing. So, you know, for me it's carpentry and then, sort of got a plan and a strategy and now it's about putting those things in place so that that transition is smooth.”
A lot of people in the industry work well beyond the average eight hours a day, with reports of some even reaching fifteen-hour shifts when project deadlines are approaching. The long working hours take a toll on their relationships with family and friends and are a leading cause of anxiety.
Abraham Hong is a civil engineer who's been working in his field for close to a decade. He says the Mates in Construction program helped his company put the spotlight on mental health issues.
“As the Mates in Construction delivered this program for this project, I think every couple of months they'd come to this job site and then they'd just check us, how we are going. But before we did this program, we didn't really care about the friendship or we didn't really care about the colleagues, to be honest. But actually, this program really helped me (in) caring about my team colleagues, and then I reached out to my team members, 'are you guys living okay?', 'do you guys have enough stress?', or 'are you guys having enough time with your family?', sort of impact for me, yeah.”
Maggie Pearce, a Mates for Construction advocate, lost her son to suicide in 2018. He was 21-years-old and worked in construction. She says the loss deeply impacted her family and friends.
“It's impacted my daughter, myself, his dad also passed away cause he felt he couldn't go on without his son. The impact's been far reaching. Family, friends, they all miss my beautiful son as much as I do.”
She says men need to feel more comfortable opening up about their problems.
“We need to really educate our men in our society that it's okay to acknowledge that they have problems, but also I'd like them to reach out and just find that one person that they can talk to. A problem shared is a problem halved and we need to save more young lives.”
Although the Mates in Construction initiative has helped a lot of people working in the industry find help for their mental health issues, there is still a large number of construction workers who are struggling.
Employees from non-English speaking backgrounds may not find it so easy to access the necessary assistance, with the language barrier still proving to be an insurmountable barrier.
Mr Hong, who is himself a migrant, says there are people on-site who struggle with communication.
“Definitely there are some people on-site having difficulty working with different people and talking in different language(s). Might be a bit of (a) language barrier there too. But we are here to support each other. Plus, the main message from the Mates in Construction (is) 'we're here to support working together to deliver the job safely altogether.'“
And with that message in tow, everyone gathered at the event in Sydney will hope for a brighter, more optimistic construction environment, where people can feel comfortable unloading their burdens as they work towards completing their projects.
