Joel Anderson knows how much courage it takes to ask for help.

Key points:

• Mental health platform Foremind is focused on giving support to blue-collar workers
• Founder Joel Anderson says while struggling with suicidal thoughts he felt ashamed and embarrassed
• Mr Anderson hopes Foremind will help break down that stigma around mental health in the construction industry

Having worked on construction sites since he was a teenager, Mr Anderson was used to hearing phrases like "toughen up" or "have a cup of concrete and harden up".

He said problems were dealt with by drinking and substance abuse rather than talking about them.

"If you were having a challenge, you'd go and sink 10 beers at the pub on a Friday afternoon," he said.

That attitude stuck with Mr Anderson well into his 20s when his own mental health deteriorated due to burnout at his engineering job.

"I was experiencing burnout. Instead of going and having a productive conversation with a counsellor, I ended up just resorting to drinking pretty much every weekend to a level that wasn't healthy to cope with stress," he said.

"I hit rock bottom; it was a really dark place."

Eventually, those dark thoughts turned suicidal, and Mr Anderson recalls feeling ashamed and embarrassed of anyone finding out how he was feeling.

Suicidality far from uncommon in industry

In the end, it took him three months to pluck up the courage to call the number listed on his employee assistance program.

But when he did, he said he did not get the targeted help he needed.

"It was someone I didn't really connect with, and I knew that was going to be a problem," Mr Anderson said.

It was another year before he was ready to see a counsellor again.

Unfortunately, Mr Anderson's experience is far from uncommon.

Research from the University of Melbourne found the suicide rate for Australian males working in the construction industry was twice as high as for other male workers.

According to the advocacy group, Mates in Construction, construction workers are six times more likely to die by suicide than from an accident at work.

In total, 190 construction workers die by suicide every year.

Research attributes this to many factors, including long hours, job insecurity and a work culture that demands self-reliance, pride and risk-taking attitudes.

Breaking down the glass wall

Mr Anderson did eventually get the help he needed.

But that experience stuck with him, eventually leading him to launch his own mental health platform specifically designed with blue-collar workers in mind.

For example, men may feel more comfortable speaking side-by-side rather than face-to-face and they may want to see what a counsellor looks like before the first session so they can establish a strong connection, Mr Anderson noted.

He said the platform, called Foremind, was also preventative.

"The main thing that we focus on is breaking down the glass wall," Mr Anderson said.

"That's the invisible barrier that prevents somebody from proactively seeking support."

"Instead of catching someone when they're in a high-stress environment, we encourage people to create an account and look through a bunch of resources that might help them contextualise how they're feeling early in the process, so that they feel empowered to go in and have a chat."

Mr Anderson also spends time going on-site and talking about mental health with workers and employers.

That's something he's now comfortable doing.

"I can put my hand up and say I've done six counselling sessions this year … it's okay to get help," he said.

Construction bosses 'aware' of challenges

Mr Anderson's platform is being rolled out across large construction companies.

JWLand national safety health environment and quality manager Don Fowler said he believed he had an obligation to ensure employees could access stigma-free mental health support when they required it.

He admitted there were specific mental health challenges relating to work in the construction industry.

"Working in isolation, working long hours and the expectation to undertake high-risk work, it all takes a toll," he said.

"That is something we are very aware of."

But he noted stressors from family, home life, relationship breakdowns, fatigue and the cost of living also impacted workers.

"In the construction industry, we do have high rates of suicide, we do have instances of poor mental health," he said.

"I think employers have an obligation to ensure we provide a safe working environment, and that includes physical and mental health."

Foremind receives philanthropic funding

Mr Anderson has just been named one of this year's nine Snow Foundation social entrepreneurs for his work with Foremind.

That is a title that carries with it not only between $100,000 and 200,000 in philanthropic funding, but wrap-around leadership and mentoring support. The grant Mr Anderson received was for $200,000.

Snow Foundation CEO Georgina Byron described the group of entrepreneurs as truly inspirational.

"We're all interested in improving positive mindsets and wellbeing … and blue-collar workers don't always have the opportunity to have that wellbeing check in," she said.

"[There's not] that culture of putting your hand up and saying you're not okay."

 

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Source: Former Construction Worker Pushing To Change The Stigma Around Mental Health In The Industry

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