Marc Preston, Author at New Foundation Counselling

Watch our Mental Health Awareness Week Live-cast

As part of Mental Health Awareness Week, Marc Preston presents some truly thought-provoking statistics on stress in the construction industry, together with sound advice on how to improve profitability and create better mental health.

This was our major contribution to the Mental Health Foundation’s Mental Health Awareness Week, with a special 50 minute long live-cast on ‘How to support mental health in the work place’. Discover what’s being done to help construction companies tackle an immense challenge.

This live-cast reviews how to implement the Mental Health Foundation’s recommendations for good well-being practices for construction companies, consultants, property developers and any organisation contributing to the built environment and so cover:

Background to the problem and underlying fact that form a sound business case for investing in better mental health provision.
What is mental health?
What are mental health problems?
How do I recognise a mental health problem?
Why don’t people talk about mental health?
What does the law say?
Steps you can take looking after your staff mental health at work

Thanks for watching and if this is something you care about then for more information on our unique Employee Assistance Programme, or to book a Mental Health First Aid Training Course to support your employees, call us now on 0800 634 5521 or visit our CONTACT PAGE.

Mental Health Awareness Week & the deadly risk factor in construction that tops all others

As part of Mental Health Awareness Week we’re focusing on why the construction industry offers very stressful conditions whilst trying to deliver projects against a very difficult background. When errors happen, we don’t necessarily think of the people in our team and our thoughts can be consumed with worry about the immediate financial loss. When we start to worry about individuals in the industry, we see a large percentage (1 in 6!) who are suffering from mental health issues, or who have been affected by mental health. In this video, our CEO Marc Preston discusses the people and pressures faced working in the construction industry.

One shocking statistic that came from the video was the revelation that if you work in construction, you’re more likely to die by suicide than in an onsite accident. We need to rapidly change and reduce this risk, putting an end to mental health issues in construction.

Good mental health isn’t just about saving lives, it’s key to building a happier team, and a workforce that looks after each other is far more productive. It also helps reduce risk, accidents, days of work due to sick leave, absenteeism and protect the reputation of your company.

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Want to find out more or what steps to assess and plan a better future for your construction business, then watch Marc Preston’s special live-cast recorded on the 15th of May during Mental Health Awareness Week HERE on ‘How to support mental health in the work place’. Discover some of the ways his unique service is helping construction companies tackle this immense challenge and at the same time improve the performance of staff and companies as a whole.

For more information on our unique Employee Assistance Programme, or book a Mental Health First Aid Training Course to support your employees, call us now on 0800 634 5521 or visit our CONTACT US page.

Mental Health Awareness Week & why the construction industry needs to tackle Mental Health

The Mental Health Foundation’s Mental Health Awareness Week is highlighting that over the last 12 months we’ve seen a variety of initiatives on the BBC, from organisations like Mates in Mind and even by the Royal Family’s Prince Harry that point to the need for male dominated industries like construction to change the way they address mental health. So with this being Mental Health Foundation’s Mental Health Week, here are three sobering facts about the direct cost to the construction industry of the impact of stress and poor mental health.

Over 11 million days are lost at work a year because of stress at work. For those of us in the construction industry, 1.9 million are lost due to work-related ill health, including stress, anxiety and depression. More shocking, “mental health issues account for people taking almost 70 million days off sick per year – the most of any health condition – costing the UK economy between £70 billion and £100 billion a year”.
From a survey conducted by the CIOB, about stress in the construction industry, results show that “the majority of respondents (68.2%) had suffered from stress, anxiety or depression as a direct result of working in the construction industry. The main causes of workplace stress cited by the respondents were: lack of feedback, poor communication, inadequate staffing, too much work, ambitious deadlines, pressure and conflicting demands.”
At any given time, across England and Wales, one worker in six is said to be experiencing depression, anxiety or other stress related problems. These issues can have a detrimental effect to your construction project risk register and can have a wide variety of costly impacts, ranging from higher staff turnover, costly accident or damage to ability to deliver to contract. Mental health issues in the workplace can lead to tiredness, employees getting distracted can lead to accidents.

So, what can we do to improve these statistics? Watch Marc Preston’s special live-cast ‘How to support mental health in the work place’ HERE. Discover some of the ways his unique service is helping construction companies tackle this immense challenge and at the same time improve the performance of staff and companies as a whole.

10 facts that will change the way you look after your construction workforce

It’s Mental Health Awareness Week and to help bring the importance of this to your construction workforce, here’s our review of some of the top mental health related research statistics from the last 12 month and the impact on the construction industry. Plus what you can do to protect your construction business.

1. Time to recognise there’s a problem
73% feel that their employers within the construction industry do not recognise early signs of mental health problems. (Source: Ranstand survey 2017)

2. One third affected
34% of the construction workforce have experienced a mental health condition in the last 12 months. (Source: Ranstand survey 2017)

3. Staff turnover and retention exodus?
Just under a quarter of construction workers are considering leaving the industry in the next 12 months. (Source: Ranstand survey 2017)

4. Women suffer more than men
Whilst the construction industry wants more women at all levels 46% of female respondents said they were currently suffering from a mental illness, a higher proportion than men. (Source: Ranstand survey 2017).

5. Literally a matter of life and death
There were 1,419 suicides in the industry from 2011-2015, this was much higher than any other profession. To put that into context, construction workers are 63% more likely to die by suicide than the UK national average. (Source: Government HSE report)

6. Construction staff say they need more help
32 per cent said that the wider industry needed to provide more support for physical and mental wellbeing. (Source: Construction News)

7. Staff keen to use better support
Nearly two-thirds (64 per cent) of industry workers said they would use wellbeing services if their employer provided them. (Source: Construction News)

8. Work-related illness due to mental health problems
According to Health and Safety Executive figures, 18 per cent of reported work-related illnesses in the UK construction industry are the result of mental health problems, such as stress, depression or anxiety. (Source: Government HSE report).

9. The Construction industry accounts for 27% of fatal accidents to employees and 10% of all major injuries which occur each year. (Source: Government HSE report).

10. 400k working days lost each year. (Source: Government HSE report).
That’s why having an employee assistance programme in place is now an essential investment that pays dividend. It’s exactly what your organisation needs in order to offer avoid these problems and give better support to your workforce.

Watch Marc Preston presentation in a live-cast he made on the 15th of May during Mental Health Week HERE on ‘How to support mental health in the work place’. Discover some of the ways his unique service is helping construction companies tackle this immense challenge and at the same time improve the performance of staff and companies as a whole.

3 major threats to your construction projects (and how to avoid them)

Spotting signs of poor mental health is vital to reducing risk not just to the person affected, but everyone around them. It only takes seconds for a great project can turn into a disaster and there many threats that can trigger this. A key worker doesn’t turn up because of a hangover. A row breaks out between staff because one of the parties is highly stressed and can’t cope. A bad accident due to tiredness. These type of incident can ruin your construction business and can stem from other issues that build up over time into explosive situations. For example:

Stress – as we’ve mentioned, stress can be a huge factor in destroying businesses all over the world. Construction employees are tired, sometimes angry, and just waiting for the ticking clock to strike home time. Not great for productivity. Check out the video below as a guide to spotting red flags associated with dangerous levels of stress.

Alcohol – the NHS has had a long running campaign so we all know the dangers to our physical well-being. So why do we see so many of our colleagues turn to drink to ‘drown their sorrows’. If this starts to happen then it can often be a vicious cycle. Alcohol is a well-known depressant and some say it’s more addictive and dangerous than Heroin. That’s why it can accelerate decline of mental health and pose so many risk on the construction site. Even if they’re no longer drunk, hangovers can be hazardous not only to the project, but also to the lives of the people involved. Click here to read more about the effects of alcohol in the workplace: https://goo.gl/yzKe4u
Drug abuse – we all know that under no circumstances can you have drugs in any workplace or have the workforce involved with drugs. At the same time drugs are harder to detect than alcohol and are an alternate option to those open to drug abuse as a coping strategy. Even though most legal highs are banned younger constructions workers are liable to be tempted. In the USA in the USA a 2017 National Safety Council survey that found an estimated 15 percent of construction workers have substance abuse disorders – nearly twice the national average of 8.6 percent. Chicago — Opioid-related overdoses claimed the lives of nearly 1,000 Midwest construction workers in 2015 – part of an opioid crisis that cost the region’s industry more than $5 billion in health care expenses and lost time and production, according to a recent report from the Midwest Economic Policy Institute. In the UK the threats have not been surveyed but it would be foolish to think that we don not have a similar issue.

The good news is there is a strategy that can make a huge difference to helping reduce the threats of all three factors affecting your construction business. As part of Mental Health Week our message is that by looking after construction employees’ mental health you can prevent them resorting to all these dangerous coping strategies. By eradicating these scenarios, you can make sure you increase profitability, reduce risk and ensure your staff are performing to their highest standards. Putting an EAP in place like the one we offer here at New Foundation Counselling could be all your organisation needs to point you in the right direction.

Watch Marc Preston special live-cast ‘How to support mental health in the work place’ HERE. Discover some of the ways his unique service is helping construction companies tackle this immense challenge and at the same time improve the performance of staff and companies as a whole.

Mental Health Week special live cast for construction companies

Join New Foundation Counselling’s Marc Preston, on the 15th of May during Mental Health Week for a special live-cast ‘How to support mental health in the work place’. Discover some of the ways his unique service is helping construction companies tackle this immense challenge and at the same time improve the performance of staff and companies as a whole.

This live-cast will review how to implement the Mental Health Foundations recommendations into typical construction company workplace scenarios and so cover:

Background to the problem and underlying fact that form a sound business case for investing in better mental health provision.
What is mental health?
What are mental health problems?
How do I recognise a mental health problem?
Why don’t people talk about mental health?
What does the law say?
Steps you can take looking after your staff mental health at work

You’ll also discover some of the ways his unique service is helping construction companies tackle this immense challenge and at the same time improve the performance of staff and companies as a whole.

UK Construction Week 2017

UK Construction Week 2017 has been and gone, and it’s been a wonderful experience. With special guests such as Kevin McCloud from Grand Designs, BBC Breakfast’s Steph McGovern and even the Dulux dog, the 3-day event was full of surprises. People from all over the country banded together to discuss construction issues, from the latest technology to the LGBTQ+ community.
New Foundation Counselling took to stand B905 to talk about a very sensitive issue in construction – mental health. Despite 1 in every 6 people in our industry having mental health problems, we’re still very reluctant to talk about it, which was one of our focus points during our CEO, Marc Preston’s talks at the event.
On day one, Marc spoke in the How To Theatre, discussing ways to recognise the signs of mental health, stress and anxiety in the workplace. The seminar was well attended, and the audience seemed to understand the catastrophic effects poor mental health can have. Poor mental health doesn’t only affect the person with the illness, but also those around them. Someone who suffers from mental health issues could also affect health and safety around the construction site, literally putting lives at risk. This is why it’s so important to look after your employees, and get them the support they need.
Owing to the success of the first talk, Marc was asked to speak twice more on the Thursday; the last day of the event. Again, the talks, both of a similar nature, went especially well and helped to raise awareness of the stigma surrounding mental health.
Marc also announced the launch of the new best practice mental health policy for use in the industry, the certificate of excellence scheme for firms with good mental health systems in place for staff and our affordable Mental Health First Aid Training. Marc said; “the market is being incredibly responsive to our new initiatives to improve mental health in our sector. I am impressed with the excellent culture and attitudes towards mental health issues being expressed by the decision makers in many of the forward-thinking companies visiting our stand. It was interesting to note that the firms taking up good mental health policies were also those performing best over a range of other corporate matters including growth in profitability.”
Creating a brilliant end to a fantastic 3-day event, New Foundation Counselling was awarded the prize for the Best Shell Scheme 2017 at Construction Week. We’re delighted to announce the first of Marc’s talks was recorded, and you can watch the footage here. If you have any questions about New Foundation Counselling or UK Construction Week 2017, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Call us now on 0800 634 5521 or email us on info@newfoundationcounselling.com to find out how you can support your staff and become a part of the winning team.

Mates In Mind

Mates in Mind is a charitable programme designed to improve and promote positive mental health in construction. The “Mates in Mind” programme is an industry wide initiative which was launched by the Health in Construction Leadership Group and supported by the British Safety Council to raise awareness and promote understanding about mental ill health in the construction industry. Their overall aim is to eradicate the ill health and disease caused by work-related activities, and this includes addressing mental health. They estimate that the number of deaths from suicide in the construction industry could be as high as 10 times more than those from fatal accidents at work. An important part of the Mates in Mind strategy is to provide training and information to employers to help them to address the issue of mental health amongst their employees. For more information about how you can get involved in the Mates in Mind programme

Construction News – Mind Matters Campaign

An online survey on the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) website showed that 84% of construction professionals polled felt that stress in the construction industry was a factor for poor retention levels. The survey generated 847 participants of whom 578 claimed to have suffered from stress, anxiety or depression. 50.5% of respondents indicated that they had taken time off to help them to cope with occupational stress although only 6% did so formally. CIOB speculate that this reluctance to disclose stress may be due to concern about any negative perceptions or negative impact on their careers if they openly admitted it. The report also talks about the knock-on effect of stress because of its impact on the individual’s performance, and the possible risk to colleagues who may be dependent on the judgement of a colleague experiencing difficulties. Clearly there are implications for the health and safety. To read more about the CIOB report on stress in the construction industry

Occupational Stress In The Construction Industry

Stephen Martin Director General of the Institute of Directors – has launched a mental health campaign to encourage their 30,000 director members to join the campaign to raise awareness of staff with mental health problems at a work. A survey of their directors found that over half had been approached by staff with mental health issues that affected their ability to work effectively. They are launching an online sign posting service for help. For more information about the IOD’s mental health campaign

New Foundation Counselling

Author: Marc Preston