Mental health text service encourages workers to open up

A charity has launched a new text service that aims to help construction workers who are struggling to open up about their mental health.

Band of Builders has launched the service alongside its industry-wide Big Brew initiative, which shines a spotlight on the mental health crisis in construction.

First launched last year and returning this October, the Big Brew encourages contractors and tradespeople to come together over a cup of tea as a first step to seek help with a range of issues. Those can range from general anxiety about things like the cost of living crisis, to suicidal thoughts.

More than 250 Big Brew events will take place in builders’ merchants and on construction sites across the UK.

Meanwhile, the new text line will allow tradespeople, contractors and their families struggling to open up in person to text BOB to 85258 at any time to get help.

Also new for this year is the Big Brew tea scale (an image of different strengths of cups of tea). This will act as an icebreaker to start conversations where tradespeople can ask one another where they rank on the scale.

Peter Cape, the Big Brew lead at Band of Builders, said: “The campaign is proving to be a vital lifeline at a time when suicide rates in the sector were already at one per day before the Covid pandemic – according to ONS figures – and it’s widely accepted that these have worsened to closer to two per day.

“The challenge has been to make it as easy as possible for tradespeople and contractors to take that all-important first step and reach out for help. The new tea scale is a great icebreaker, prompting people to ask where their mental health is on the scale. And if someone isn’t in a place where they can open up face to face, the new text service is another way to get the ball rolling in seeking help.”