Mental health support that shows up on site

More common than most people on site would guess. Around 190 Australian construction workers die by suicide every year, which is roughly one every second day. Men in the industry take their own lives at almost twice the rate of men in other jobs, 26.6 deaths per 100,000 compared with 13.2. The strain shows up earlier too. Almost a third of construction apprentices say they have had suicidal thoughts in the past year, and more than one in four remote construction and mining workers report high or very high psychological distress, against about 11% of Australians overall. These are not rare cases. Chances are someone on your crew is doing it tough right now.

It is rarely one thing. Long hours, tight deadlines, time away from family, job insecurity between projects, and physically demanding work all add up. Around 88% of construction workers are men, well above the 53% workforce average, and men are often the least likely to put their hand up when things get heavy. A culture of pushing through and not making a fuss can stop people asking for help until they are in crisis. Workplace bullying and harassment play a part as well. An EAP gives your team a simple, private way to talk things through before the pressure builds up.

An Employee Assistance Program gives your workers free, professional counselling for whatever is weighing on them, whether that is stress, sleep, relationships, money worries, grief, or thoughts of suicide. With Talked, your people can book a session with a qualified Australian psychologist or counsellor and talk by video, phone, or message, around shift work and site hours. Getting in early matters. Every $1 invested in construction suicide prevention returns about $4.60 to the community, and a serious mental health claim keeps a worker off the job for a median of 35.7 working weeks, almost five times longer than the average serious claim. Support that lands early keeps your crew safe, on site, and well.

Confidentiality is what makes workers feel safe enough to reach out, so it is built into everything. What an employee discusses with their counsellor stays between them and the clinician. As the employer you never see who booked a session or what was raised, only anonymous, aggregate usage and wellbeing data. The single exception is a serious risk to someone’s safety, which clinicians are legally required to act on. That privacy is exactly why workers use the service, and your reporting still gives you the insight you need to manage risk.

You choose the plan, and Talked tailors the number of sessions to suit your team and budget. Most plans include a set number of free sessions per worker each year, which is enough to work through most issues. If someone needs longer-term or more specialised support, their counsellor helps them find the right next step. Talk to us and we will size a plan to your workforce and the kind of work they do.

It is built to be quick and low-friction, because site crews do not have time to muck around. Once your workplace is set up, your people get a simple link or code and can book online in a few minutes, choose a counsellor, and connect by video, phone or message. There is no GP referral, no long forms and no waiting weeks, and support is available outside standard hours so an early start or a late finish does not get in the way.