Kickstart Scheme Update

TACKLING MENTAL HEALTH HEAD ON

MATT HARTILL WAS ONE STEP AWAY FROM TAKING HIS OWN LIFE

Working as a scaffolder for Lyndon SGB, Matt had been struggling in silence with mental health issues and depression and had been planning his suicide.

“I was stood at height and ready to stop the pain,” he recalls. “I didn’t take that step and was able to turn my life around thanks in part to the mental health assistance provided by Lyndon SGB.”

Matt’s colleague Ian Hines, who himself had suffered with poor mental health, was at that time the lead of the mental health team. Through a network of first aiders, Ian was made aware that Matt was not himself and reached out to him to offer support.

Both Ian and Matt now lead Lyndon SGB’s dedicated, in-house mental health team, delivering mental health first aid training to employees in all areas of the business as well as customers such as Lendlease, Balfour Beatty and Willmott Dixon, and KIER

To date they have trained more than 200 mental health first aiders and have been recognised by MHFA England themselves for the work they are doing within in the construction industry where we lose two people daily to suicide.

Ian said: “I’m really grateful to have the full support of Lyndon SGB and the senior management team all who incidentally have all attended the course with glowing feedback and a very different stance to mental health.

“THE COMPANY IS WALKING THE WALK, NOT JUST

TALKING THE TALK, AND NOT JUST TO OUR OWN

EMPLOYEES, BUT TO THE ENTIRE CONSTRUCTION

INDUSTRY. OUR MESSAGE IS “IT’S OK TO NOT BE OK”.

The pair also provide mental health training through the not-forprofit Mental Health First Services community interest company that was set up to make this training accessible to those who are not able to afford it. They have trained volunteers from CHANGES UK rehabilitation and “let’s feed Brum” outworkers who feed the homeless in Birmingham and are often at the frontline of mental health within the community.

NASC members can claim up to £125 per employee (max of 15) towards mental health first aid training courses conducted by Mental Health First Services, and a host of other providers, through the NASC’s £30,000 mental health first aid training fund.

Matt said: “I’m passionate about raising awareness of mental health issues and removing the stigma that so often prevents people from seeking the support they need. By sharing our own experiences of poor mental health and providing people with practical support and guidance we’ve been able to help guide people to the appropriate professional support when they may not have either had the information or strength to tackle mental ill health.

“Sadly, it’s still the case that two UK construction workers every day die by taking their own life. As long as people in the industry continue to feel they can’t talk about their mental health, we will continue to lose fathers, sons, mothers, daughters etc every day.”

Both Ian and Matt sit on the suicide advisory group for the West Midlands and are two of only 8,000 ASIST accredited instructors allowed to deliver suicide prevention (intervention courses), another initiative designed by Lyndon SGB and Mental Health First Services to reduce suicide.

Matt said: “Both Ian and I know first-hand that there’s a better way forward and that’s the message we want to get out as far and wide as possible. There is help out there and with the help of NASC helping with funding we can tackle the stigma and discrimination surrounding mental health.”

MENTAL HEALTH LINKS

FOR MORE ON MENTAL HEALTH FIRST SERVICES VISIT WWW.MENTALHEALTHFIRSTSERVICES.CO.UK FOR MORE ON THE NASC’S MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID TRAINING FUND AND TO SUBMIT A CLAIM LOG IN TO THE MEMBERS’ AREA OF THE WEBSITE AND THEN SELECT MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID FROM THE TRAINING FUNDS DROP DOWN MENU

NATIONAL ACCESS AND SCAFFOLDING CONFEDERATION WWW.NASC.ORG.UK