The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) is to fund a pilot scheme providing mental health support for construction apprentices starting out in their careers.
CITB has pledged £90,000 for the scheme. Optima UK will train further education construction tutors to be mental health first aiders so they can support construction apprentices during their learning.
Apprentices will also receive mental health awareness training in bite-size, four-hour sessions. There will also be one-to-one support.
Training for both instructors and apprentices will start in September.
Support for 100 apprentices
The Mental Health First Aid England-accredited trainers will deliver 29 courses, all with 16 delegates, to hubs of colleges across the UK. In the space of a year, they will have trained 464 tutors and 464 apprentices, as well as offered one-to-one support to around 100 apprentices.
The CITB investment comes after a study compiled by the Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity and CITB, which showed 26% of construction workers had experienced suicidal thoughts and 91% felt overwhelmed. Two construction workers take their lives each day.
CITB CEO Tim Balcon said: “We need to make sure everyone is at ease talking about their mental health and this comes down to a culture of making it OK to speak up. Giving apprentices the confidence to do that from day one will hopefully make them feel supported in the industry. When staff are supported and happy in their work, and in my view, they will stay in the industry longer.”
Mental health training in action
At scaffolding firm CASS UK, a culture of mental health support played a major role in giving two young staff members the confidence to come to the aid of a vulnerable person. Karl and Kieran realised the person had climbed up on scaffolding on a site they were working on in Exeter.
They stopped what they were doing and took the time to speak to this individual who was obviously troubled. They managed to talk him down and stayed with him until help arrived.
Kieran said: “We knew that what we were seeing wasn’t normal, and there was no doubt that we wanted to help this young man. We didn’t see it as being an act of kindness or wanted any credit for what we did, we just didn’t want this person to do anything that we could stop or help with.
Karl added: “We are aware of the rise in mental health, especially in the construction industry and we wouldn’t hesitate to help anyone again in this situation.”
CITB has already partnered with Laing O’Rourke, the Lighthouse Club and Samaritans to train 8,000 mental health first aiders in the workplace, making mental health information and support accessible and relatable to small and medium construction employers.
