World Mental Health Day 2019 has suicide prevention as its theme. It also aims to promote good mental health as a whole.
Rooff Managing Director, Mark Horn said “As an organisation, we fully support mental health initiatives, and we are actively training staff in mental health awareness. We welcome open discussions and encourage employees and the wider workforce to come forward for help without fear or stigma.”
Claire Bullen, Business Development Manager has completed her training and is Rooff’s first Mental Health First Aider. She said “This year’s focus on suicide prevention is especially close to our industry with over 1,400 construction workers taking their own lives between 2011 and 2015 (ONS). We must all make it our responsibility to look out for one another, not just in our personal lives but in the workplace as well, by taking the time for open discussions with colleagues. We need to reduce the stigma around talking about our feelings, issues or struggles and ensure we are able to communicate these at work should we need to.”
Trainee Site Manager Jordan Sargeant agreed “We concentrate on the physical hazards so much and have made sites safer but people are now taking their own lives instead, due to stress. I think we need to as an industry concentrate on people’s mental health as well as physical health.”
