Two people take their own lives every working day in the construction industry, making our sector one of the worst affected by suicide
As this affects our industry disproportionately, it helped influence our choice of new corporate charity partner, when we selected the suicide prevention charity, PAPYRUS.
‘Changing the Narrative on Suicide’ is the theme of this year’s World Suicide Prevention Day (10 Sep) – and it’s something we can all get behind. It can be as simple as starting a conversation in the canteen about suicide or sharing information in your local sports centre or youth club. No matter how big or small the action, we can all provide hope to those who are struggling.
This year at Wates we are marking World Suicide Prevention Day in several ways.
Suicide Awareness
Alongside PAPYRUS, we have hosted a special awareness session for all our colleagues where we heard first-hand from a PAPYRUS HOPELINE247 suicide prevention advisor. We wanted people to leave the session feeling more confident to speak about suicide and ask the difficult questions if they suspect someone is feeling suicidal or struggling with their mental wellbeing.
“I have many conversations with people who feel worried about saying the wrong thing or who aren’t sure how to speak to someone about suicide. We hope to alleviate some of those fears during the discussion.”
We will also be sharing a film we made about this issue, called ‘Ripple of Hope’. Our site teams will be able to share this with our vast supply chain and start having conversations on site, as well as publishing online to reach as many people as possible.
Mental Health First Aid
We’re continuing to provide support through our dedicated network of over 260 Mental Health First Aiders and we are training a further 40 employees this year in Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST). As part of our charity partnership, we have also committed to train 300 people in the local communities where we work in ASIST training.
Business can use its voice
The good news is that all businesses, no matter the size, can influence both a large a varied community of people, from their own employees, to customers, suppliers and the public. And, everyone can get involved in helping to create suicide safer communities you can get started today by sharing our video or following and promoting Papyrus on social media.
This World Suicide Prevention Day let’s all commit to taking action and giving hope.
