A BROMSGROVE tradesman is taking on a mammoth running challenge this month to raise awareness of the silent mental health crisis gripping the construction industry.
Joe Baker, who himself is opening up about attempting suicide and battling addiction, is now running 5km every day in May to raise awareness and funds of the disproportionate mental health impacts on tradespeople.
Joe is the founder of Second City Screed, a Midlands construction business. But before that, life looked very different. He said: “I attempted suicide. I was deep into addiction. Really, really struggling.
“It was talking to people that saved me. That and becoming sober.”
He’s now taking on this relentless challenge to support The Lost City donation campaign, which calls for urgent action to prevent more lives being lost.
“I haven’t trained for this. But that’s the point — it’s meant to be hard. Because this issue is hard.”
The Lost City campaign is a project to visualise what the construction industry has lost to suicide – over 7,000 workers in the last decade, equating to a suicide rate four times the national average.
Those lives are enough to build 150,000 homes, 80 schools and three hospitals.
Last year alone, the sector which employs 2.1 million workers (87.5 per cent male) lost £2.74 billion to mental health-related absence. 73 per cent of the workforce have experienced ill mental health and 64 per cent have used alcohol or drugs to cope.
The lower number of female workers does not equate to better experiences for women in the industry. According to On The Tools, 100 per cent of women in the industry have experienced mental ill health.
Joe added: “The roads, the railways, the homes we live in — they’re all built by people like us. But we’re undervalued. Underappreciated. And when we break, no one notices until it’s too late.
“We build the country – but who builds us back up?”
Through his 5K-a-day challenge, he’s raising money for Band of Builders and Construction Sport, charities at the forefront of suicide prevention and mental health support in the trades.
Joe effort’s are being shared in unison with Mental Health Awareness Week (Monday, May 12 to Sunday, May 18).
Visit https://donate.justgiving.com/charity/lostcityproject/donation-amount to donate.
