In December, Carpentry and Joinery students at West Lancashire College decided to raise awareness for mental health through a fundraising initiative for the Birchwood Centre.
The Birchwood Centre, based in Skelmersdale, provides vital support and accommodation services for vulnerable people at critical points in their lives. Over the years, their service to the community has grown and developed, meaning that they have reached out to more people through their counselling services, mediation services, therapeutic accommodation, dispersed services in the community, support with employment, training, and their Junk Food Café.
In accordance with the Construction Index and the latest suicide statistics for England and Wales published by the Office for National Statistics, it shows that 507 people working in the construction industry took their own lives in 2021. This is an increase from 483 in 2020. Of the 507 construction suicides that occurred in 2021, 503 were male.1
These statistics resonated with the college’s construction students, so as part of their NCG Guarantee for Enterprise & Mental Health, the Carpentry and Joinery Level 1 and Level 2 students decided to raise money for the Birchwood Centre to support mental health in our local community.
The students created wooden Christmas decorations by using their joinery skills that they had learnt throughout their time on the course so far. The decorations were sold at the college’s Christmas Fair, where an incredible £130 was raised. The college and their students will continue to work with the Birchwood Centre on projects to raise funds to support the local community.
Amanda Maddocks, Curriculum Manager for Construction, said, “our construction students were alarmed to learn about the number of construction workers affected by mental health issues and wanted to do something to help. They created some fabulous work and I am so proud of both their work and community spirit.”