Seddon hosted activities across its construction sites during this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week to mark one year since the business launched its mental health initiative, Jordan’s Conversation
Seddon has been an advocate for encouraging conversation around mental health since one of its team members, Jordan Bibby, took his own life in 2017.
In response to this tragic event, and in partnership with registered charity Mates in Mind, Seddon launched Jordan’s Conversation in May 2018 to improve mental health awareness.
As part of this initiative, Seddon organises a “toolbox talk” for staff, a session that is designed to raise awareness of mental health across the company. Seddon has also formed a team of mental health first aiders, trained to recognise the signs that colleagues may be struggling and need help.
According to 2018 research from Mind, one in four people will experience a mental health problem in their lifetime. For those in construction, figures are higher – in a 2017 survey of construction workers by Randstad, 34% said they had experienced a mental health condition in the last 12 months.
Looking back on Mental Health Awareness Week 2019, on Tuesday 14th May, Seddon hosted a ‘Big Hug’ at its Plodder Lane headquarters – a heart-warming event which saw more than 130 staff, as well as Jordan’s mum Melanie and family, take part. This involved passing a hug around the grounds, a symbol for encouraging staff and associates to share what’s going on in their lives more openly with colleagues.
Wednesday 15th May marked a year since the launch of Jordan’s Conversation. To celebrate the rollout of the initiative so far, Seddon encouraged its employees, clients and partners to take part in #Take10at10.
The campaign encouraged colleagues to have a proper chat over a cup of coffee and get to know each other better, as this is key to being able to recognise the first signs of someone struggling.
The team rounded off the week with 130 Seddon staff tackling the three peaks challenge in Yorkshire, raising funds for Andy Burnham’s homelessness fund.
Nicola Hodkinson, director of business services at Seddon, said: “Jordan was a well-loved friend and colleague, and as a company we wanted to do whatever we could to prevent such a tragedy happening again. So far we have delivered Jordan’s Conversation toolbox sessions to more than 300 employees, helping to ingrain discussions around mental health awareness at the heart of our company culture.
“By investing time, care and attention in our people, we’re giving them the best chance of succeeding both personally and professionally. We are immensely proud of where we have taken this initiative so far, and look forward to continuing to make progress as the years go on.”
