NF McDonnell and Sons employees Bailey Biddle, Ronan Poyner, Phil Jackson and Kelly Yaroslavceff with Marcus Thomson and Terry Farrell.
Colourful work shirts have been rolled out at a Mount Gambier timber mill to get the conversation moving on mental health. Source: The Border Watch
NF McDonnell and Son staff members have been wearing the shirts with a colourful print on the bottom, collar and sleeves of the shirts while also supporting a QR code under the pocket flap.
The initiative was rolled out by the AAM Investment Group which the local mill joined late last year.
The shirts are one of the mental health initiatives across the company’s 33 agriculture and primary industry sites throughout Australia.
NF McDonnell and Sons chief executive, Craig Nisbert said the shirts were rolled out earlier this year with the aim of encouraging the conversation around mental health and suicide prevention.
“When we first decided to roll out the shirts, we got all 123 of our staff together and went over why we were doing it,” Mr Nisbert said.
“Mental health and suicide was really becoming a local issue and it was around the time where we had lost a number of people in our region to it.
“With the amount of staff we have at our site we can’t help but be touched by both issues.”
He said the unique print on the shirts forced workers to think more about mental health issues and reminded them to speak up if they found themselves under stress or unsure where to turn in times of need.
“People who are struggling need to know that if they are doing it tough, they won’t be judged or picked on and that we are in this together,” Mr Nisbert said.
“We have had a fantastic staff response to the roll out of the shirts and there are a significant number who enjoy wearing them.
“We don’t make it compulsory and let them wear the shirts if they are happy to do so but the aim of them is to initiate a conversation and it has worked with Member for Mount Gambier Troy Bell asking us about the shirts during his and Premier Peter Malinauskas’s recent visit.”
Mr Nisbert said the tone of the conversation typically changes once people realise why the shirts are different but the fact it starts a conversation in the first place was the idea.
“It also promotes awareness about mental health and especially now with fuel prices and the price of living going up considerably it is more important than ever,” he said.
