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“At least the question should be asked,
‘We’ve noticed these things, is something going
on?’” said Walker. “You can see the danger
in just addressing this with disciplinary action;
ask somebody what’s causing the change
in their behaviour.”
This is your problem
“If you think that you don’t have a problem with
suicide or mental health in your workplace,
you’re probably wrong – you just don’t know
about it,” said Walker. “With any other safety
practice, we’re not reactive; we don’t wait until
somebody dies or is severely injured to start
putting safety practices into place. Just like we
take the preventative approach when it comes
to physical safety, we need to take that preventative
approach with mental health, as well.”
She also points out that beyond being a workforce
issue, suicide is a societal issue that can indirectly
affect businesses.
“It may not be somebody in your workplace
at risk of suicide, but maybe it’s their kid, spouse
or friend,” she said. “By training our workforce,
we can become part of the bigger societal shift
in addressing this. If your employee’s son or
daughter, for example, dies by suicide and they
could have helped prevent it, that’s going to affect
their ability to be a productive employee,
and it’s going to increase their risk of suicide.”
According to research, people who lose a loved
one to suicide are twice as likely to die by suicide
themselves.
Start talking about it
Talking about suicide can be awkward or uncomfortable
at first, but it’s important for companies
to persist in order to normalize the conversation
and begin breaking down the stigma attached to
topics surrounding mental health.
“You become more comfortable the more
times you hear something – it’s less shocking,
less frightening,” said Walker.
To begin normalizing the topic in the workplace,
include it in as many different sources
as possible.
“Every safety meeting that we have, it’s talked
about in some way or another so that our employees
are hearing the message consistently,”
said Walker.
Hang posters, use company newsletters or
other internal communications and have a toolbox
talk about suicide and mental health.
“We mention mental health in our new hire
safety training video, so from the first new hire
orientation and onwards, employees are seeing
it,” said Walker. “When we talk about benefits,
The Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention (CIASP)
partnered with a training program offered by LivingWorks, a Calgary-based
leader in suicide prevention training solutions. LivingWorks provides several
different training programs, but CIASP recommends one in particular called
Start due to its ease of access.
“It’s a 60- to 90-minute online training program,” said Michelle Walker,
chair of CIASP. “It’s interactive and customized to the user. It’s situationalbased
learning, and allows you to walk through how you would respond to
different situations – what are the warning signs to pick up on, and how
do you react?”
The training is meant to be a baseline; after completion, a participant
would be better equipped to ask someone in their workplace if they’re
contemplating suicide. The LivingWorks Start program is only CAD$36.
40 Think BIG | Quarter 1 2020 | saskheavy.ca
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