Two members of Tilbury Douglas braved a charity skydive for construction mental health awareness, raising £1,230 for The Scottish Association for Mental Health (SamH)
After having conversations on site, Richard Sutherland, senior project manager, and Jonathan Watson, assistant site manager, both working at the Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre in Inchinnan, became acutely aware of the frightening statistics surrounding mental health in construction.
Richard and Jonathan both said: “There is a perceived stigma that comes with discussing mental health within the industry.
“We got speaking about it on site and after a bit of research, realised how big the issue of mental health was in construction.
Two UK construction workers die of suicide every day
Every day two people in the UK working in the construction industry die of suicide.
48% of people in the construction industry have taken time off due to unmanageable stress.
Almost half of people within the industry find it hard to speak about their mental health.*
They added: “We decided to do something that would get people talking.”
Construction mental health awareness
This sparked the idea to organise a charity skydive in the hope that it would prompt more open conversations about mental health.
So, on Sunday 1 May 2022, Richard and Jonathan jumped from a plane 10,000 feet in the air to raise money for The Scottish Association for Mental Health (SamH). SamH works with adults and young people in over 60 Scottish communities to provide mental health social care support.
Richard and Jonathan commented: “We decided to do something that would get people talking; the skydive was postponed twice due to bad weather which gave us more time to speak to people about it and unfortunately, allowed more time for our nerves to build up.
“The skydive itself was daunting but we’re both so glad to have done it and are really grateful to everyone who donated.
“If we can raise a bit of awareness, help a charity like SamH and start some conversations, then we are happy.”
SamH ensures anyone with a mental health problem has a place to go for help
Rachael Martin, corporate partnerships fundraiser at SamH, said: “We were absolutely delighted to see Richard and Jonathan from Tilbury Douglas sign up for a charity skydive in aid of SamH.
“What an amazing challenge and we’re so grateful that we were the chosen charity.
“SamH is committed to ensuring that anyone with a mental health problem has a place to go for help, and it’s through the efforts of our supporters like this that we can achieve this.
Improve Scotland’s mental health
“Thank you so much from all of us at SamH for helping us improve Scotland’s mental health.”
* Statistics taken from Mental Health in UK Construction: The Statistics | Mates in Mind
