Team SIMIAN supports CALM

The SIMIAN team’s next fundraising initiative will see us support CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably), a charity that raises much needed awareness and support on male suicide and mental health. With a support helpline and webchat, alongside multiple awareness-building campaigns CALM provides vital advice and support for those bereaved by suicide, as well as helping individuals to feel empowered to get the all-important help they need before they reach crisis point.

This initiative has been spearheaded by Scaffolding Safety Advisor here at SIMIAN, Isaac Morrison, who has personally been affected by the issues that CALM provides awareness and support for. Isaac’s father suffered from issues with his mental health and sadly passed away in 2009, and just one year later Isaac’s stepfather tragically took his own life. From his own personal experience with these issues, Isaac is dedicated to providing long awaited attention to the issue of male suicide, which is the leading cause of death amongst men under the age of 45 in the UK.

Isaac has said, “My whole family are huge supporters of the fantastic work that CALM carries out. I chose this charity specifically to raise awareness of an issue that affects countless people throughout the UK, and globally. Awareness is much needed in the construction industry in particular, we want to let people know that looking after their mental health is just as important as they would their physical health. We want to spread the message that we should all take people seriously when they mention that they’re feeling down, and provide them with the support that they need.”

The Three Peaks Challenge will mark the first of 10 fundraising activities that Isaac will be undertaking over the next 12 months, that he hopes to get the rest of the SIMIAN team involved in, stating, “Everybody likes to make a difference so I’m sure they’ll be easy to convince.”

The planning stage is still underway with countless ideas being considered for the team to fundraise, from football matches, to bungee jumping, charity dinners to hitchhiking, we couldn’t be more excited for the initiative to begin.

If you would like to donate to this fantastic cause, please visit Isaac’s JustGiving page here.