{"id":2232721,"date":"2026-11-02T06:27:56","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T03:27:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2232721"},"modified":"2026-11-02T06:27:56","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T03:27:56","slug":"builders-song-encourages-workers-to-talk-about-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2232721","title":{"rendered":"Builder’s song encourages workers to talk about mental health"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/dcf0\/live\/cb50a810-d47c-11f1-80bc-6d398902272f.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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\"BenBen Francis<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Ben Francis wants to encourage men who work into construction to be more open about hoe they’re feeling<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A construction company manager is using music as a way of getting more men in the industry talking about their mental health following the loss of his uncle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Ben Francis, from Bruton, Somerset, has written a song as a way of raising awareness and money for mental health charities after his uncle, Jonathan Carpenter, took his own life in December 2023.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Jonathan was a “meticulous carpenter” and Francis hopes his uncle’s story and his song will strike a cord with fellow construction workers and encourage them to open up about their mental health.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I want natural construction voices to come and be heard and help me share the message that we should be talking about mental health in construction.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“It takes a little bit of strength to say how you’re feeling, so think of it as a good thing,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“In the industry we haven’t done it and mental health awareness has been around for while now and what I want to do is take a bit more action.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"FamilyFamily handout<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Jonathan helped Ben build his first guitar aged six and write his first song at 10<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Francis has worked in the industry since 15 and now runs his family business.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Construction sites are well known for their banter and camaraderie but Francis believes that sometimes things might not be all as they seem.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“[It was] a terrible moment because [my uncle] felt like he couldn’t reach out and talk about how he was feeling,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Even for the guys who might have had an inkling, no one really knew how to deal with what was going on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I think he was struggling personally, he was going through what a lot of guys go through, he was 50 and sort of in a mid-life crisis moment and unsure of what he was doing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“He had lost a lot of confidence in what he was doing and I think all these things snowballed.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Studies have shown that talking and being part of an active community can help improve overall mental health and Francis hopes that introducing this to construction could go a long way.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“If you ask guys on site how they’re doing, the common phrase is ‘living the dream’ and we all know that’s sarcasm,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I think that each day the pulling pranks and joking is just a way of dealing with issues in their own way but actually they’re not speaking to anybody.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“We should be talking on site and just being able to open up about our feelings.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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‘Smile in the Dirt’<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Jonathan was a keen musician and started creating music at a very young age.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He passed this love of music on to his nephew and helped him write his first song at just 10 years old.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Francis has now released a new single called Smile in the Dirt, that highlights the pressures of working in the industry and calls on people to talk about how they are feeling.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The song was recorded at Abbey Road Studios and all proceeds will go to four mental health charities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Follow BBC Somerset on <\/i>Facebook<\/i> and <\/i>X<\/i>. Send your story ideas to us on email or via <\/i>WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cmrlyp06016yo”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/dcf0\/live\/cb50a810-d47c-11f1-80bc-6d398902272f.jpg”] Ben Francis Ben Francis wants to encourage men who work into construction to be more open about hoe they’re feeling A construction company manager is using music as a way of getting more men in the industry talking about their mental health following the loss of his uncle. Ben Francis, from Bruton, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35,226],"class_list":["post-2232721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-bbc-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2232721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2232721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2232721\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2232721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2232721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2232721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}