May 2022
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Mental health<br />
Continued from page 46<br />
The counselling service is free for<br />
tradespeople and their families<br />
They are:<br />
S – Support each other<br />
T – Talk about it<br />
A – Always ask twice<br />
T – Take it seriously<br />
S – Stop the cycle<br />
Keeping this simple acronym front of mind might<br />
just be the thing that prompts a tradesperson<br />
to take that extra moment to really ask a fellow<br />
workmate, someone on site or someone at a<br />
merchant’s how they are doing.<br />
Signposting help<br />
If someone encounters a tradesperson (or a<br />
tradesperson’s immediate family member) they<br />
believe is experiencing anxiety, depression,<br />
loneliness, relationship issues, self-harm,<br />
suicidal thoughts or any other trauma, they<br />
are encouraged to recommend taking that allimportant<br />
first step and visiting the Apply for Help<br />
section of www.bandofbuilders.org.<br />
There’s a dedicated Wellbeing Support page,<br />
where there is more information about the<br />
counselling service.<br />
Tradespeople can self-refer and receive<br />
confidential counselling in person (dependent<br />
on location), by phone or online via a video call<br />
service such as Microsoft Teams or Zoom. And if<br />
someone is experiencing a mental health crisis,<br />
there are also details of how to get immediate help.<br />
Just so we’re absolutely clear, this is a FREE<br />
service for tradespeople and their immediate<br />
families – and all this has been made possible as<br />
a result of the kind and generous donations from<br />
our first ever Big Brew, which have meant we<br />
have been able to fund this counselling service<br />
for two years.<br />
In addition to this, we have been able to fund<br />
150 mental health awareness courses, designed<br />
primarily for builders’ merchant staff across the<br />
UK, as they are often the first line of support for<br />
tradespeople.<br />
The final and most important point that I always<br />
make is that we’d much rather support lots of<br />
people who are in crisis, than hear of even just<br />
one family who have been left bereaved because<br />
a tradesperson has succumbed to suicidal<br />
thoughts and taken their own life.<br />
Contact Band of Builders:<br />
0300 015 4808<br />
www.bandofbuilders.org<br />
@bandofbuilders<br />
48 TI MAY <strong>2022</strong> PRACTICAL CONTENT FOR THE GLAZING INSTALLER & HOME IMPROVEMENT SPECIALIST