Mother Turns Grief Into 37,000 Workplace Mental Health Allies

When Maggie Pearce lost her 21-year-old son Ben to suicide in 2018, she made a promise no other mother would face the same heartbreak if she could help it.

Today, she's one of 37,000 volunteers with MATES, a charity transforming Australia's construction sites, mines, and manufacturing plants into networks of trained listeners. These everyday workers are having the conversations that save lives.

The numbers tell a sobering story. In 2023 and 2024, technicians and tradespeople accounted for more than a quarter of all male suicides in Australia, with 1,383 deaths. Long hours away from family, job insecurity, and workplace culture create a perfect storm of mental health challenges.

But MATES is proving those same workplaces can become safety nets. The charity trains volunteers called "connectors" who learn to spot when colleagues are struggling and start conversations before crisis hits.

Maggie now works as a connector at her Sydney transport depot, where she looks after staff and has had hundreds of mental health conversations since Ben's death. She says workplaces are ideal intervention points because colleagues often notice warning signs that families miss at home.

"We spend so much time at work that you might pick up on signs in people that they're not OK that they may hide from their family," Maggie explains.

MATES CEO Brad Parker points out a unique challenge in heavy industries: workers literally work themselves out of jobs as projects end. Combined with high-pressure environments and cultural resistance to seeking help, the risk factors multiply.

The charity started in Queensland construction sites in 2007 and has since expanded across multiple industries. Today, those 37,000 volunteers reach approximately 330,000 workers nationwide.

The Ripple Effect

The impact extends far beyond Australia. In 2021, the World Health Organization recognized MATES as a model program in their global suicide prevention guide, offering a blueprint for other countries facing similar challenges.

The success comes from a simple insight: people trust their coworkers. When someone trained to listen is already on site, accessible during breaks or tough days, help doesn't require admitting defeat or making appointments. It just requires a conversation.

Maggie's next mission is bringing this support to smaller companies like the one where Ben worked as a shopfitter. She's advocating for government funding to extend connector networks beyond large worksites, believing this could break down mental health stigma where it's needed most.

From one mother's grief has grown a movement proving workplaces can be where lives are saved, not just where paychecks are earned.