Mentoring and 1-2-1 support on offer

A scheme to take mental health support to construction sites is one of eight brilliant initiatives to get funding to help reduce suicide and self-harm in Kent and Medway.

Maidstone-based Therapy Partners will use their slice of the 2025 Kent and Medway Better Health and Wellbeing Community Fund to run the six-month pilot.

Called Hard Hat Minds, it will offer employees, initially on one site, 1-2-1 mentoring, group sessions and tailored advice about NHS Talking Therapies, addiction support and other services.

A record 143 good causes applied to the latest round of Community Fund funding.

Run by the Kent and Medway Suicide Prevention Programme, the Community Fund has supported over 100 projects over the past eight years dedicated to helping local residents get back to better mental health.

The announcement on World Suicide Prevention Day comes as Kent and Medway gear up to host the national suicide prevention charity’s Baton of Hope's Tour.

Alan Heyes, Chief Executive of Therapy Partners, said: “We’re really excited to receive this funding.

“Suicide rates are four times the national average in construction. Employees, mostly men, need help to overcome mental health stigmas and the social isolation that comes from working shifts, sometimes a long way from home.

“Hard Hat Minds is designed to meet workers on site, on their terms. Our goal is to build trust and create a model of support that could be rolled out across the sector.”

Source: Kent County Council
Picture credit: Mulitfacetedgirl