PBC Today interviewed Robert Muldoon, founder of The MYHP Podcast, who spoke about his mental health journey, and why creating honest discussions about mental health in construction is important
The interview kicks off with Robert, who explains his role in the industry, and his journey on how he has got to where he is now.
“I’ve worked in the brickwork industry for the past 22 years now. I started off as an apprentice way back in the year 2000.
“I worked for a brickwork contractor in the Northwest and worked my way up to become a project manager for them. Now, I only do small domestic jobs because I decided to step away from the bigger commercial work I was doing because it was having a detrimental effect on my life.”
You mentioned that you’ve stepped away from the larger projects. Was that how The MYHP podcast come about?
A couple of years ago, I had a mental health breakdown due to stress. I wasn’t dealing with it properly; I was just pushing it down and suppressing it. Instead of doing something about it, the problem built to the point where my wife turned around to me and said, “you’re destroying yourself”.
That was not because I was working for a bad company, far from it. They got me the help and support that I needed and helped me get through the times. Paul, whom I work for, said to me, what do you want to do when you come back? Do you want to carry on with your job and the management side of it?
This was about four years ago, and I was done with the construction industry – I wanted to leave it. I thought that was what was making my life terrible. But he said to me, well, why don’t you go the safety side of things? I don’t want you to leave the business, but we can look for a different role for you.
‘I decided to work in mental health because it resonated with me’
I decided to work on the mental health side of things because it really resonated with me. People often come into my office and tell me about their problems, whatever they may be. A lot of time I don’t have the answers for them! But what I do is I just listen to what they have to say and sometimes that’s enough.
This is where the Lighthouse stepped in, they got all my training for me to pay for my training to do mental health, first aid, and become a first aid instructor.
The podcast is all about the importance of talking about mental health
This is where the podcast came about. When I went back and continued my old role whilst deciding what I wanted to do and what direction to go in. One day I remember I had a bit of paperwork to catch up on, so I sat doing that and I just thought, I need to get the message out there, what I went through to let other people know that you can start talking about it.
I wanted to be able to get the message to people in a way that could be discreet if people didn’t want others to know what they were looking at, and podcasts were a great fit. I could do a podcast about mental health and construction, and they could be sat in the canteen with their colleagues, getting the information that they need.
The first episode went out in November 2020. We do about one a month. I interview a wide range of people in different areas of the construction industry, it doesn’t matter what your job is, as long as it’s connected to the construction industry and you’re willing and want to talk about your mental health journey.
The work that we’re doing is saving lives. For example, on Christmas Day 2021 I had someone reach out and say that they got help because of the podcast. No matter how dark or place you might be in, there’s always a solution to it and there’s always a way out of it. And that’s pretty much the work that I’m doing now.
PBC added: As you say, it’s important, the things that you’re doing because it’s spreading the message and having that representation within the industry that someone can listen to the podcast and see themselves and the people that you’re talking to and know that they’re not on their own.
As a statistic, the suicide rate in the construction industry is three times higher than the national average.
Why do you think that mental health is such a taboo subject the construction industry?
We work in an industry where there is this perception that we can’t show emotion because it’s a sign of weakness when it absolutely isn’t.
A lot of the time, it’s because a lot of people are fortunate enough to have never gone through it or never understood that they’ve gone through it.
This feeds into the stigma because people don’t want to deal with it. However, through the podcast, I can let people know that you can talk about it, you can be open and honest about it and still deliver, no matter what your job is, whether you’re a machine operator or whether you’re an electrician or whether you’re a project manager, it’s just as important as everybody else’s role.
If we can get more people to talk about it, we can all try and build a new culture.
What about self-employed workers? What help is out there for people in that position?
Contact the Lighthouse club. The helpline is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and also has a text service. Not everybody wants to talk, some people prefer texting. From there, The Lighthouse will give support via their text messaging service, which could lead to a telephone conversation.
Callers will get a worker who will help to give them solutions on how to pick themselves up and get out of any problems.
Say you’re in debt, for example, they won’t just hand you out a big chunk of money – but what they could do is they could help you pay your bills for a little bit to three months, six months, whatever it may be, just to give you a little bit of a break to get yourself back on your feet.
They can also help you with your physical health. If you’re struggling to get to the doctor or anything like that, they can help. It’s like an employee assistance program, that’s not only for you, but for your immediate family.
If you could give a piece of advice for somebody in the industry that’s struggling with their mental health, what would it be?
No matter what you’re struggling with, reach out, there are people out there that are there willing to listen to you and help you.
Check in with your mates, check in with people that you’ve noticed that started to act a little bit differently. Drinking too much, eating too much, not eating at all, not looking after themselves.
‘The biggest bit of advice is talking. It’s a sign of strength, talking about your emotions’
It’s little things like that. Not wanting to leave work, not being in work. A lot of people go down the drugs and alcohol route. For me, I buried myself in work because I didn’t want to have to leave, drive home and then start work again.
Listen to the full episode below
Robert Muldoon
The MYHP Podcast
