The Victoria Park Men’s Shed launched a new program in collaboration with soldiers and sirens, for retired first responders to come together and engage in woodworking activity as a means to support mental health. It was an obvious choice to sponsor the program when looking at ways to give back to the local community.
Support from the Monadelphous Engineering Construction (EC) team was welcomed with open arms by the Men’s Shed, who have been struggling to get sponsorship and support due to the nature of their work and lack of skills in grant writing.
The program is led by a passionate team including Men’s Shed President Keith Barnett and Constable Detective Evan Jackson who were left “speechless” at the generosity of Monadelphous, expressing it will allow them to run the program well into the future.
“The workshops are meant to run for two hours but they go a lot longer, they are all very enthusiastic which is great to see. We need as much support as we can get to keep it running,” Keith said.
In contrast with the light-hearted activity, the statistics behind the working life of first responders are sobering. Witnessing traumatic events on what can be a daily basis takes a significant toll on mental health and relationships.
“First responders are 800 per cent more likely to experience serious work-related mental health disorders than other occupations. Working on the tools together to make something has the benefit of being incredibly mindful and distracting from the world,” Detective Constable Evan Jackson said.
The shared experiences of the retired first responders and their willingness to help each other will have long-lasting benefits for everyone involved.
Thanks to the generous contribution from the EC team, the Victoria Park Men’s Shed will be able to continue supporting initiatives like this. The funds will go towards purchasing supplies for the Shed, ensuring that this initiative can continue to provide a solid support system.