Beyond Blue and the Housing Industry Association (HIA) have extended their partnership to continue supporting the mental health of people working in the residential building industry.
HIA Managing Director, Graham Wolfe, said for five years the HIA Charitable Foundation has supported Beyond Blue in improving access to mental health resources for people in the building industry.
“By extending this partnership to 2021, together with a further donation of $100,000 from the HIA Foundation recently, Beyond Blue will be able to continue to support workers across the building industry,” Mr Wolfe said.
Beyond Blue CEO Georgie Harman explained people in the building industry have a higher than average rate of mental health concerns, so the support that the HIA Charitable Foundation provides has been especially welcome.
“Beyond Blue encourages people in the building industry to know the signs of mental health conditions, to be there for their colleagues, and to seek support as early as possible,” Ms Harman said.
Mr Wolfe explained HIA’s former National President Pino Monaco had recently become the Chair of the HIA Foundation and would use his substantial network with Australia’s residential industry to garner further support for the Foundation’s interests.
“Mr Monaco will be building on the enormous contribution that the founding chair of the Foundation, Ron Dwyer, made in establishing the Foundation and leading it through its infancy to its successful position today,” Mr Wolfe said.
Since its inception the HIA Charitable Foundation has raised more than $1 million, initially for research into asbestos-related disease and for the last five years in support of Beyond Blue’s mental health initiatives.
