“How Are You Really?” – Taking care of your mental health

Now more than ever, taking care of your mental health is crucial. One in four of us will experience a mental health issue at some point in our lives. You may think it will never affect you. Even before the pressure of Covid-19, these issues were quite common in the construction industry, with over 20% of workers dealing with a mental health issue.

At mac, we want to motivate our team to prioritise their mental health. Yesterday for CIF Safety Week 2020, we held a live webinar for all of our staff across our UK/ROI sites and offices to highlight yesterday’s theme of ‘Mental Health, Welfare and Well-Being in Construction’.

Alan Farrell from Pieta House was our first speaker, followed by ex-footballer and football manager Pat McGibbon.

Pat set up Train 2B Smart Academy for young people who are suffering with mental health issues. Pat talked with mac about the importance of looking after ourselves, as well as each other and shared his own personal journey talking through his experiences, from the highs of Manchester United, to the lowest point of his brother taking his own life – Pat’s talk hit home. Watch snippets from our webinar below.

To further cement this awareness, we have a number of staff who have completed mental health first aid training. Known as “mac’s mates”, this initiative is ongoing with first aiders across our DubHub, NewHub and BrumHub offices. We are on track to have 14 “mac’s mates” by the end of 2020, with plans for more staff to undertake the training in 2021.

Internally here at mac we have also created the role of Mental Health Advocate within the group. mac-group CEO Paul McKenna has chosen two Mental Health Advocates within mac, Steve Parsons for the UK and Gary O’ Sullivan for ROI. The Mental Health Advocate will visit our sites and offices, taking time out from their normal roles to be available to our staff members

mac believe that in order to make real progress with mental health, welfare and well-being in the construction industry, we must help each other by looking out for our colleagues, spot the signs and talk. It is also important to listen to your own mental health and treat it as you would your physical health.

We asked Group EHS Manager Darren Bourke how he looks after his mental health and well-being.