Lighthouse brings free workforce wellbeing portal for all in construction

The Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity has partnered with CITB and Samaritans to create a wellbeing support tool, as part of the industry wide initiative called ‘Make It Visible’.

The Make It Visible campaign and portal aims to make welfare and wellbeing support visible on every construction site, helping to reduce the stigma around the subject and increase awareness of the support pathways available. Having secured over £400,000 in funding from CITB, the #MakeItVisible portal was created earlier this year to support the initiative.

The portal provides a wide range of resources, covering themes of emotional, physical, and financial wellbeing. It aims to help individuals recognise when they’re struggling and how to cope with the challenges they’re facing. For each area, there is an extensive list of organisations that can provide further in-depth advice and support.

Research shows that stress, depression, or anxiety accounts for 27% of all work-related illness in construction. Tragically, the charity also reveals that two construction workers in the UK take their own lives each day. The charity’s mission is to ensure that no construction worker or their family feels alone in a crisis, and that they get the support they need before it’s too late.

The Make It Visible campaign also has a taskforce of people who are dedicated to visiting construction companies, builders’ merchants, hire centres, and sites across the UK and Ireland to get the conversation started and raise awareness of the free resources. The team has spoken to almost 30,000 people and visited almost 500 sites since the on site tours started in February last year.

The portal is currently encouraging visitors to take part in the world’s biggest mental health check-in, One Million Lives. This free tool has been developed by mental health professionals to help users assess their current state of mind and better understand the complexities of mental health.