Men’s Health Week 2025 takes place between June 9th and 15th
The campaign, run by UK charity ‘Mates In Mind’, focuses on the need for men to start a conversation about mental health in their organisation.
Mental health is a particularly pressing issue in the construction industry. Factors such as tight project deadlines, long working hours and the physically demanding nature of the job contribute to making it one of the world’s most stressful professions.
A recent ONS report revealed a gender disparity in overall suicide figures. The 2022 statistics showed the age-standardised suicide rate in England and Wales for males was 16.4 deaths per 100,000, compared to 5.4 per 100,000 for females. It means men accounted for circa three-quarters of all suicides.
Men’s Health Week aims to empower UK businesses to ‘Tackle the Silence’ surrounding mental ill-health and inspire a workplace culture change. The campaign has BriggsAmasco’s full support, with the company’s mental health awareness training a long-established part of its culture.
Tony Lawther, Managing Director at BriggsAmasco said: “The Tackling the Silence issue is one we’ve focused on over the past few years across all areas of BriggsAmasco business. For some men, mental health remains a taboo subject. Hence, we’ve worked incredibly hard to overcome that barrier by encouraging employees to open up about personal problems they may be dealing with. we remain vigilant, and we’ll continue to prioritise our colleagues’ mental wellbeing.”
BriggsAmasco has 36 mental health first aiders and 2 dedicated mental health first aid instructors. Its Mental Health First Aid Instructors deliver a full two-day Mental Health First Aid Course, as well as refresher training when required. Mental Health Awareness training is also provided as part of BriggsAmasco’s employee induction.
Tony continued: “The comments from our mental health training course attendees have been extremely positive. Our instructors have earned praise for their excellent engagement and understanding of the course’s objectives.”
Recognising signs of stress is key to intervention and preventing an individual’s mental health issue from escalating. Tony said BriggsAmasco’s first aiders were well equipped to spot colleagues’ distress signals. “Developing behaviours that indicate a mental health issue might include a change to a person’s demeanour or personal appearance. Each of these potential red flags could help us assign a source of help to someone who is suffering from stress.”
The disproportionate male suicide rate could be partly attributed to men being less likely to seek help for mental health issues than women. This is supported by research that found just 36% of NHS referrals for psychological therapies were for men.
Tony said “The more encouragement we give men to talk about mental health issues, the less they will suffer from what is sadly a very prevalent problem. Now more than ever, it’s crucial that we face mental health head-on and reach out for help when we need it.”
For more information on Men’s Health Week, click here