Text HARDHAT: mental health message helpline launched

A new mental health helpline that construction workers can access via text message has been launched

Construction workers and their families and friends can now text HARDHAT to 85258 to access anonymous and confidential help immediately via text.

This helpline has been launched today (1 February) by the Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity, which provides financial, emotional and physical support to construction workers.

The new service has been launched to help those who prefer asking for help over text rather than over a phone call. It will supplement the 24/7 telephone helpline that Lighthouse runs.

Trained volunteers from Lighthouse will respond to text messages on the helpline. Volunteers can provide support for those dealing with anxiety, relationship issues, loneliness, isolation, abuse, addiction, depression, bullying, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts and feelings, among other problems.

When a text is first sent, the volunteer will ask for a little more information on the issue. They will continue to chat without judgement until the person has been helped to reach a calm and safe place. Then over text, the volunteer will point them to further resources and also put in place a plan for any future crises.

Lighthouse Charity chief executive Bill Hill said: “Our new text HARDHAT to 85258 service comes at a time when many are still struggling on a daily basis with debt, anxiety and family issues.”

Hill explained that the pandemic had exacerbated the mental health crisis in the industry. “Some things are returning to normality but there are still far reaching consequences and underlying problems that remain as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. These pressures are in addition to the normal stresses and strains of working in an industry where two workers take their own life every single working day and a fifth of all work-related illness is due to stress, anxiety or depression,” he said.

The construction industry has long battled a mental health crisis and statistics have shown that suicides in the industry have been on the rise. According to the Office for National Statistics, in 2020, for every 100,000 construction workers, 30 died by suicide. This figure has risen five percentage points over the last five years.

Research from Glasgow Caledonian University revealed that construction workers are 3.4 times more likely to die by suicide than those in other occupations.

Last year, a survey brought to light that 1 in 5 self-employed workers and those who work in small firms lived with “elevated levels of anxiety”. Work-related stress had been blamed for this, along with the pandemic’s impact on construction supply chain.