Wānaka man Glen Thurston has announced a campaign to prevent unnecessary deaths in the construction industry, and he is drawing on his own experience.

At just 18 years of age Glen attempted to take his own life and for many years was ashamed of his illness, using alcohol to self medicate.

“When I went through it on the building site there was no education, there was no talk, there was no nothing,” Glen said. 

“My vision is to start a campaign for mental health in the construction industry to help break the stigma associated with depression and mental health.

“The ultimate goal above all else is to help prevent anymore unnecessary deaths with more education around suicide prevention and to connect more tradies to the support needed.”

To raise awareness, Glen is commiting to climb Corner Peak (1,683m) near Lake Hāwea every day for 53 days beginning on December 1, 2022. Fifty-three is the average number of suicide deaths in the construction industry since 2017, one person every week.

“I will attempt to climb Corner Peak everyday for 53 days in honor of those averages,” Glen said.

He is asking local tradies and construction companies to support him by joining him on one climbing day and committing to implementing the MATES inducted programme in their businesses.

“I hope to get each day sponsored by companies in the construction industry,” he said.

“Sponsorship is not by way of money but by way of commitment by the company to join the MATES programme and receive their general awareness training (GAT).”

Glenn said that the general awareness training has been shown to significantly improve construction workers’ confidence in noticing other people’s distress as well as their competence in encouraging co-workers to seek support.

“In New Zealand, there is this perception that speaking up about personal mental health is weak,” he said. 

“Particularly in my industry, when we see someone struggling or trying to ask for help we tend to brush it off or look the other way.

“What I am trying to do is both encourage conversation and create a support network that holds each other to account. So when someone does reach out we not only know how to engage with them, but also have the tools to support them in getting help.”

Glen says he chose Corner peak because it suits the name of his campaign, ‘Turn the Corner’, and because waking up with depression can feel “mountainous”.

“Getting into the mountains is my way of meditation, it brings me to such a happy place,” he said.

The MATES programme is designed to build and strengthen communities in the construction industry by helping people be supportive and provide an environment that encourages positive wellbeing.

Find out more and sign up to support Glen here.

Facts about the climb:

• Each ascent and descent of Corner Peak is a return trip of around 17km
• 53 days is a total of 901km
• Each climb has an elevation gain of 1,570m
• 53 days is an elevation gain of 83,210m - climbing Mount Everest around nine times.

PHOTO: Supplied