CIOB member and senior project manager has created a practitioner’s guide on mental health following two serious anxiety episodes he experienced at work. Designed to support others in the industry, all proceeds go to the construction industry mental health charity Mates in Mind.

Dariusz Kubies, founder of FitOut Insider and a senior PM consultant, experienced a public breakdown on a Saturday site visit, a few years ago – despite delivering mental health toolbox talks to his own teams.

His 43-page practitioner guide is built from that experience. The guide aims to help others recognise the signs in themselves and others, offers tips on how to have conversations on site, with practical language and practical steps, teaches how to protect yourself without having to leave as well as offering sources of help. 

“I had a panic attack in A&E at 30. I did not know what one was,” said Kubies. “Construction did not talk about mental health in those years. Afterwards I had awareness from mandatory training and ran informal toolbox talks on my sites because I had been there. At 39, I had a second episode that took me out of work for a month. After that I trained as a Mental Health First Aider. Knowing the theory does not make you immune. Still Standing is the 43-page guide I wish someone had handed me at 30. If one chartered colleague picks up the phone earlier than I did, it has done its job.”

Read more about the guide and Kubies’s experience on LinkedIn and here.