Fly The Flag For Suicide Prevention

This week you are likely to see a flag flying over a construction site near you. Over 1000 flags will be flying on sites across Aotearoa New Zealand as the industry comes together for its third year of Fly the Flag. Driven by the charity MATES in Construction this is a call for the industry workforce to stand side by side as they remember those lost to suicide and take the time to check in with each other, especially when they can see a mate is doing it tough.

MATES Fly the Flag leads up to World Suicide Prevention Day observed annually on 10 September. The day is promoted by the International Association for Suicide Prevention and endorsed by the World Health Organisation and represents a global commitment to focus attention on suicide prevention.

The theme for World Suicide Prevention Day this year is “Creating hope through action,” reflecting the need for collective, action to address this urgent public health issue. All of us, whether we are family members, friends, employers, co-workers, community members, educators, religious leaders, healthcare professionals, politicians, and governments, can take action to prevent suicide.

The work of MATES in Construction is to build this collective action into the construction workforce. The workplace offers a major opportunity to build the capability of its people and MATES has been offering this community development model across New Zealand work sites since 2019. MATES is backed by over 150 industry partners, who enable the programme to be offered free to workers right across the country.

“We Fly the Flag each year to raise awareness of the extent of the problem in our industry here in New Zealand. On average, one construction worker takes their own life every week. Our industry is vibrant, exciting, and integral to the New Zealand economy, but it can also be a challenging industry to work in. With long hours, transient working conditions, job insecurities and masculine stoic beliefs this can all impact on our people’s mental health and wellbeing. Coming together to Fly the Flag as part of this global movement shows our industry knows we all need to work collectively, to not only start the conversations about mental health and suicide prevention, but also to know what to do if a mate is struggling”. – MATES CEO, Victoria McArthur

The pressures felt by our industry have been further amplified by COVID-19. Three years after the pandemic’s onset, more than half of those surveyed across our workforce reported that their mental health had gotten worse.

This year, we are also encouraging industry to take part in ‘Take 10 at 10’ – an initiative where sites and construction organisations across Aotearoa will be putting down their tools, whether it’s a hammer a drill or a pen at 10am on Friday 9th September and taking 10 minutes to have a korero about their mental health and wellbeing. This campaign supports MATES call to take collective action against the number we lose to suicide and grow STRONGER TOGETHER as an industry where mates help their mates. Other events across the country including lighting up the Sky Tower red on Friday 9th of September, shining across Tamaki Makaurau to join the collective.

The last three years have seen over 34,545 workers upskilled in suicide prevention awareness, and an incredible 1906 Connectors and 186 ASIST volunteers are also now integrated into our workplaces, keeping their mates safe and connecting them to help.

If you or someone you know in the industry is struggling or needs help, call 0800 111 315

© Scoop Media