Breakfast banter: HALT (Hope Assistance Local Tradies) founder Jeremy Forbes with Community Bank customer relationship manager Kerri McPhee, Lockmore Financial Services director Ian Maddison and Community Bank executive officer Lauren Ross.
A Community Bank tradies breakfast at Rochester Mitre 10 last week served as the perfect setting for a not-for-profit mental health charity to spread the word about supporting the region’s tradespeople.
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Jeremy Forbes founded Hope Assistance Local Tradies (HALT) in 2013 and has held 800 “Save Your Bacon’’ breakfast events, designed to raise awareness of mental health in the trade space, with sporting clubs and in farming communities.
Hot ‘plate’ topic: Rochester Lions Club president Ken Hocking and Simon Pearson provided the expertise in preparing bacon and eggs for a consistent flow of tradespeople through Rochester Mitre 10.
Matt Hawker’s Rochester Mitre 10 served as host to the event, which was organised through the Elmore, Lockington and Rochester Community Bank organisation.
"The Community Bank organised the breakfast and we are hosting it,’’ Mr Hawker said.
“The Lions club is running the barbecue and Rochester cafe is supplying the coffee.”
Mr Hawker said, of his clientele, that Rochester was a very supportive community.
He has been working with the town’s tradies for seven years at Mitre 10, having inherited a passion for hardware from his father.
“Dad had the Mitre 10 in Echuca when I was a kid, it is all I have ever done,” he said.
Dennis Hawker sold the Echuca store in 1999 and his son now has a workforce of 12 — which has 70 per cent of its business from the trade community.
"We try to get the product mix right for the town, but we deliver everywhere between Echuca and Bendigo. Wherever our tradies go, we deliver,’’ he said.
Community Bank executive officer Lauren Ross was joined by director Ian Maddison and customer relationship manager Kerri McPhee at the breakfast.
Channel 10 personality Walt Collins, who is a regular at the Mitre 10 due to his renovation of a Corop property, was also at the breakfast.
Ms Ross said the breakfast was a way of giving back to Community Bank members.
The important message being delivered through the HALT group was not lost among the indulgence of tradies in egg and bacon rolls.
A former painter and decorator, Jeremy Forbes, is from Castlemaine and after 20 years in his trade was convinced of the need for such an organisation.
‘’We speak the language, we are open and honest and have a lived experience with the struggles of mental health,” Mr Forbes said.
“We lost a tradie to suicide in 2013, who was fifth for the year in the region.
“There was a realisation that we weren’t doing enough and the culture of ‘she’ll be right’’ needed to be addressed.”
Mr Forbes said the establishment of HALT had allowed the organisation to shift the narrative and encourage the conversation while reducing the shame and stigma attached to mental health.
“Our aim is to provide pathways to support services.
“We are easy to find and we are funded in certain regions, we work at hardware stores, TAFEs, building sites and in community groups — including sports clubs,” he said
A team of five has attracted federal funding through the Department of Health.
Mr Forbes said the top two reasons that people struggled with mental health were finance and relationships.
“They are closely followed by alcohol, gambling and, surprisingly, sleep.
“Tradies struggle with sleep, it is a bigger issue than you might expect,” he said.
Mr Forbes is a member of a suicide prevention group which works within the Bendigo region.
He said he hoped that Rochester sporting clubs would consider working with the group, who had regularly spoken with sports clubs on a Thursday night at training.
Most important meal of the dasy: Tradies Brayden Perichon, Jai Milligan and Tom Hughes at the Bendigo Bank-backed breakfast on Thursday.
Coffee catch-up: Brett Shotton, Channel 10 Healthy Homes Australia personality Walt Collins, Craig Thornbury and Judy Olney at Rochester Mitre 10 for the breakfast.
Host with the most: Rochester Mitre 10 owner Matt Hawker and Paul Butterfield, from PDB Carpentry, at the early morning Community Bank-sponsored event.
