Hope Assistance Local Tradies co-founder Jeremy Forbes has been a tradie all his working life.
“Tragically, in 2013, I was living in Castlemaine, and I think we had lost six men at that stage to suicide in the preceding 12 months,” Jeremy said.
“It is just one of those things that we go ‘you know, it is their problem, it is their fault’ we don’t really talk about it and address it.
“And I was determined to do something about it.
“I got a phone call from Catherine Pilgrim, my co-founder, who said, ‘Let’s do something for the tradies in Castlemaine.
“We did what we called a ‘Save your Bacon’ brekkie at the local hardware store in Castlemaine, and that was the origins of HALT.
“It has virtually come out as a need, the community crying out to do something about it.”
HALT is passionate about providing tradies with the tools to have tough conversations about mental health and support each other when their mates are going through tough times.
They do this through ‘Save your Bacon’ breakfasts and other events.
“We have spoken to hundreds of thousands across thousands of events in the last 10 years,” Jeremy said.
“We know we help people because we get emails, texts and phone calls about it.
“The ‘Save your Bacon’ event is one we do at hardware stores, usually a Tuesday morning or a Friday lunch, when tradies traditionally turn up and have a bit of a chat.
“The initial thing was ‘Save your Bacon’ at hardware stores, but since then, we have had to adapt to whatever works.
“We want to be flexible with the business and ask them when it works or suits them for us to come and talk to staff and tradies about mental health.
“It might be seven in the morning at a toolbox or prestart talk, it might be Friday lunch just before they knock off.
“We work across council depots, football clubs, men’s sheds, factories, hardware stores, building sites, so we have got to be flexible with what works for them and whether men and women feel comfortable.”
Jeremy understands the impact suicide can have on the community, with it affecting thousands of people in Australia every year.
“That initial part was, I’d lost mates previously to suicide, mostly men,” he said.
“But when I started HALT, there was that realisation that it can impact anyone and everyone.
“Every human on the planet has mental health and can be impacted by mental health struggles.
“It is important because we haven’t traditionally talked about it, we are not talking about it, which is okay as long as we are here to listen, understand and learn.
“And be brave and courageous and have a tough conversation with someone close to us, a work colleague, partner or family member if we need to.
“Often, there is a lot of shame attached to it.
“We have to cut back that shame, that cultural shame about reaching out and having to be strong and stoic all the time.
“The she’ll be right culture when it comes to mental health doesn’t help, and it costs a lot of lives.
“So, we have got to have open conversations.
“I think there is a difference between the people we have helped; we don’t always know because we are early intervention prevention; we want people not to be at the point in that darkness.
“Everyone needs to hear these things; every single person in the community, in business, on sites, and everyone needs to hear this and talk.
“It is important that businesses, community groups and organisations really make an effort to talk about mental health, have some support there, and just make it okay to speak up when someone is struggling.”
For more information on HALT, or to contact Jeremy, go to: https://halt.org.au/
If you or anyone you know is struggling, contact Lifeline on 131 114.
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