COMPANY PROFILE
The road to recovery
EACH message on the side of the Battling Suicide Bus tells its own story. “RIP Billy,” reads one. “RIP Bopper,” is another.
“Uncle Chris, we all miss you, never forgotten”, “Still miss you, Bob”, and one that still leaves a lump in the throat of the team behind the bus: “I wish we had that pint, mate.”
Each of the 400 scrawled memorials is packed with the pain of loss. The messages might be simple but the ripples of grief, hurt and despair behind each are immense.
“The first day I was on the bus, two girls came up and said their dad had killed himself two weeks earlier and could they write a message on the bus,” recalls Tom Footitt, business development manager of How’s My Driving?
Familiar to countless road users thanks to the bumper stickers that are helping to make our roads a safer place, the not-for- profit organisation is behind the Battling Suicide Bus.
Intended to spark conversations and break down the stigma that still surrounds talking about mental health problems, the bus has been on an 18-month tour of Britain, stopping off in towns and cities to hear heartbreakingly familiar stories of loss in each one and to highlight the need to just talk.
Recently it turned heads at the RWM show in Birmingham, with many visitors dropping by to find out what a giant chess set, a bus covered in scribbled messages and large “Check On Ya’ Mate” message might be doing at the waste sector’s largest trade show.
“The waste sector is a high pressure, macho environment and not necessarily the most open place to talk about how you are feeling,” points out Tom. “The bus gives people a place to talk using 5-a-side chess set as the catalyst.
“You can play a game of chess and it’s a chance to get people to engage with each other.”
He adds: “We’re all just one or two degrees away from someone who has killed themselves or is affected by mental health. We have all got our own story with mental health and one conversation can go a long way.”
Opening up Barely a day goes by without the words ‘mental health’ and ‘suicide’ hitting the headlines. And the statistics are startling: in 2018, 6,507 people took their own life, which works out at an average of 18 people every day. Of that number, 75% were men.
In the male-dominated waste and recycling sector where there are constant pressures to get things done on time, drivers might spend hours alone and away from friends and family, and there may be a reluctance to open up about feelings and worries meaning mental health is an increasing worry.
According to Health and Safety Executive statistics the sector has among the highest rates of work- related illness and injury of any UK industry, with one report from 2014 suggesting 34.1% of absences of more than 20 days are linked to mental health problems.
It points out that one in four of us will
By SANDRA DICK
experience a mental health problem at some point, with work-related stress known to aggravate existing issues.
Meanwhile, mental health charity MIND has reported that 30% of all self- certificated illnesses in the logistics sector are mental health related. It suggests 22% of workers have been diagnosed with mental health issues, yet less than half felt they could tell their employer.
Profits are ploughed back into road safety
initiatives such as walking buses for schoolchildren, virtual reality goggles which teach young people road safety and cycle safety stickers.
As well as leaving staff debilitated and with a knock-on impact on family and friends, mental health issues take their toll on business too.
It has been estimated that it costs £100 per employee for each day a member of staff is absent, while there are rising demands on employers to create mentally healthy environments to help minimise stress and help new generations of workers see the sector as a welcoming one to work in.
It’s where the Battling Suicide Bus and its chess set could make a difference.
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