Stress Archives - 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.

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.