A new campaign, called Bummed Out, aims to support men with their mental health as research reveals 94% of people in the building trade have experienced stress in the past year.
Hounslow Council is encouraging men working in the building trade to speak to someone and seek help if they are struggling with their mental health. Chronic pain, long hours, tight deadlines, relationship worries, debt, and feelings of isolation can leave people in the industry feeling strung out and desperate. Research shows that some turn to drugs and alcohol or gambling to cope, which bring their own problems and make things worse.
The Council’s Public Health team has put together a list of organisations, both national and local to Hounslow, that can support men with their mental health, and the underlying causes of depression and stress. These include men’s support groups, gambling, alcohol and drug support, debt advice, and help with relationship breakdown.
Representatives from local men’s support group Men’s Minds will also be visiting workplaces as part of the Council’s Healthy Workforce offer to speak to men in the industry and talk through options for people who want help. Anyone who wants to arrange a visit from Men’s Minds to talk about mental health support can contact elizabeth.ctori@houslow.gov.uk.
A mental health crisis
A May 2025 report by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) revealed that there is a mental health crisis among people working in construction.
In a survey of 920 workers, 94% of construction workers said they experienced stress in the past year, 83% had experienced anxiety and 60% had experienced depression.
A worrying trend
One of the most worrying findings in the report was that more than one in four (28%) of those surveyed said they had experienced suicidal thoughts in the past year.
In Hounslow, there have been 76 recorded male suicides since 2020. Around one in 10 of these cases have involved people who work in construction. This is despite only 3% of Hounslow residents working in the industry.
Out of the men who died by suicide, four were Polish. This has prompted the Council to make campaign materials available in Polish as well as English.
Not an easy game
One Hounslow resident who’s been working on building sites for decades told us he suffers with depression but has found it hard to speak to people with the industry about it.
The man, who asked not to be named, said: “It’s not an easy game, especially as you get older. I’ve suffered with depression for a few years now and also had it in my younger days. There’s a stigma around it, so you kept it to yourself. And there's a lot of people that I've seen on sites and I know they’re not well.
“Coming to Men’s Minds was a big step for me. It’s the first time I’ve ever done anything like this. And it's been a big help, just being able to talk about it with people. It brings me out a bit more and gives me the chance to express things.”
Another Hounslow man, who also asked not to be named, said the stress of working in engineering gave him a skin condition.
He said: “I also developed high blood pressure as a result of the steroids, and then they said I was now diabetic as well. The job definitely had an effect on all this. And it wasn’t just me, there was another guy who found the stress too much to cope with. He developed other conditions including a stammer.”
