It is all too easy for businesses and organisations to give ‘lip-service’ in relation to mental health in the workplace, periodically reaching out to staff to ask if anyone needs help or support. Sadly, statistics show that those who do need help tend to be those who ‘struggle in silence’ and rarely open-up to colleagues or management.
In our sector, construction, there is even more stigma attached to mental health. Data indicates that workers in construction are nearly four times more likely to take their own lives compared to other sectors (https://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/construction-suicides-keep-rising).
Several years ago, the Directors at GRM recognised the need to put a robust system in place to support the mental health challenges faced by employees. These have continued to expand and evolve, and now include a range of initiatives including:
- Four trained and certified Mental Health First Aiders (MHFA). This started with one lead person several years ago, but a target was set to grow to one MHFA for every ten employees. This has now been achieved with representation across all areas of the business.
- Provision of an external 24-hour helpline provided by BUPA, whose qualified counsellors support both work and non-work related areas including relationship worries, bereavement, stress, anxiety, and depression.
- Emotional resilience training provided by a qualified external professional at Calm People (https://www.calmpeople.co.uk).
- Regular communication to all employees encouraging anyone who is struggling to reach-out to the MHFA team or other available services.
This week is Mental Health Awareness Week (13th-19th May) and the team at GRM are embracing several initiatives including ‘Wear it Green’ and ‘Empower Half Hour’, both of which are designed to raise awareness and talk more freely about mental health in the workplace.
As well as encouraging everyone to wear something green, there were also green cakes available (cake is pretty much part of the fixtures and fittings here at GRM)! But there were healthy green options too, as you can see from the fruit picture below!
We also met up as a group to encourage the Empower Half Hour to boost wellbeing at work. Our MHFA team were also on-hand to share other initiatives and support channels should anyone need them at any time. Below are links to the main Mental Health Awareness Week website and the two initiatives that GRM has been involved with:
