Western Bay of Plenty construction workers teed off for their mates in Greerton on Saturday, raising awareness and funds for their industry's workers mental health.

The social golf challenge at Renner Park Golf Course was a fundraiser for MATES in Construction New Zealand – a suicide prevention charity that seeks to support those in the construction industry.

According to MATES, does not discriminate – with the NZ construction industry losing nearly one person to suicide each week – 98 per cent of which are men.

'It's just pretty well-known in the construction industry that there's a lot of stresses out there and a lot of them come down to financial,” says fundraiser coordinator Kat Chantler.

The Civil Contractors NZ Bay of Plenty Branch has become more involved with the charity and the positive work they do.

'MATES do free courses to help companies' staff with their mental health,” says Kat. 'We have witnessed the impact their presentations have had on people and the way this has influenced behaviour on-site, where mental health discussions have become more open and people are taking the time to genuinely check in on each other.”

MATES recently trained 130 staff at The GIB/Winstone Wallboard plant, which is under construction at Tauriko. Kat says part of MATES training is teaching people to be ‘connectors' – people who can see when someone needs help.

'Some of the staff MATES have trained as connectors have been able to identify a couple of the guys in trouble and get them the help they urgently needed,” says Kat.

'They are a very valuable organisation to support – that's why everyone's jumped to help out because we genuinely know how awesome they are.”

On the fundraiser day, Richie Hepi and Sale Leilua from MATES were getting amongst the golf.

'They're there to talk about their courses to encourage more companies to get involved and also just if any of the guys are struggling – they've got an ear there to listen to them,” says Kat.