Tough Guys Don't Talk
September is national suicide prevention month, a time to raise awareness, promote prevention, and unite in support of mental health - a topic that is not often discussed in the open, here in the #construction industry. Our industry faces unique challenges, including high stress, demanding work conditions, and a culture that often stigmatizes seeking help. The result is that you are 5x more likely to lose a coworker to suicide than to a work-related injury or illness. In the United States, 53.3 construction workers out of every 100,000 die by suicide, while the average rate for all industries is 12.93 individuals per 100,000. That unfortunate statistic translates to the suicide rate among people in construction being more than 4x the national average.
In construction, we are tuned to work in a stressful environment that moves quickly and has a low tolerance for error. The industry is still a male dominated demographic that often creates a "tough-guy" mentality. Overuse of drugs and alcohol, peer pressure, long hours, and poor access and utilization of healthcare are all contributing factors to the state of mental health in the construction industry. The Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR) also points out that these issues are often compounded. As workers feel the need to support their families, they don't prioritize their physical or mental health.
"People are working through illnesses. They're working through injury. They are not getting paid unless they work," says Jessica Bunting from CPWR. This leads to a reliance on painkillers and other substance abuse that's significantly higher in the construction industry.
These are terrible facts and statistics that describe an industry in which I have spent my entire life. Until recent years, it is not something I have ever heard openly discussed. That's just not what we do. Until more recently, I wasn't even convinced that anyone wanted to talk about it, let alone would actually come forward with conversations. Again, it's just not what we do.
The turning point for me came unexpectedly and fortunately did not center around losing someone close to me (which is often the very unfortunate case). Instead, it came while I was working with a construction company client creating safety training videos for their 1000 field employees. In one of our planning meetings, one member of the management team quietly said, "you know, we should make one of these videos about mental health." It's one of the only times I remember the room going quiet. No one was going to disagree, but no one was going to jump in and proclaim it the best idea they had ever heard, either. Again, not something we talk about. But the heads slowly nodded in agreement, and then parted ways, leaving me to create a training video about something that I had certainly never discussed either.
It's the most difficult training I have ever put together. It was uncomfortable, I didn't know what to say or how to say it. I stumbled through and did the best I could with a great deal of research and more difficulty on camera than I have ever experienced. I was still totally unconvinced that this was needed, or wanted, among the large group of people for whom it was being produced.
Throughout my time working with this contractor, I spent a good amount of time in their office circulating among project managers and field engineers; and I spent time on job sites observing the activities and speaking to the people that would actually watch the training I was producing. It was not uncommon to be approached and complimented on the latest training video, or to get suggestions for the next one. However, after the mental health awareness training was released and assigned for the month, I was overwhelmed by the number of people who approached me to say thank you. It was very unexpected. Supervisors, laborers, field employees...tough guys.
That was the turning point for me. I already knew the statistics. They were just numbers and facts of life to me, essentially meaningless.
When people started talking about it, just because of a 20-minute video that I didn't even want to make, that opened my eyes. It was the first time I actually realized that this was a problem, and that it was a problem that was silently shared among a large percentage of the people around me. All it took to bring it to light was to start talking about it.
For this discussion, that's where I am going to leave it. We just need to start talking about it. I am far from the expert, and I don't have any unique suggestions or groundbreaking resources that I have created. I will leave that to others (and will share their resources in the Take Aways section below). What I do have is the experience that has taught me that for this issue, we can make a difference in our industry, and in our workplaces, by simply starting to talk about it.
Take Aways
If you are looking for facts, figures, definitions, and trends, check out this Data Bulletin from CPRW. This 7-page research paper examines U.S. construction worker mental health trends, including anxiety, depression, serious psychological distress, seeing a mental health professional, medication use, suicides, and overdoses.
Opioid use in the construction industry is serious problem effecting the health and well-being of those that become addicted and those that live and work around them. This three-part video series from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health details and discusses the issues - Part 1: Evolution of a Crisis - Part 2: Impacting Lives - Part 3: Pathways to Recovery
www.preventconstructionsuicide.com is the web site for the Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention and contains numerous resources, including:
A two-minute behavioral health checkup that you can complete on-line to get personalized recommendations
A resource page full of downloadable material including toolbox talks
Scan to visit the Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention
Additional Resources on LinkedIn Learning
If you have access to LinkedIn Learning, you have access to some of the best training and educational content in the world. There are over 10,000 courses on almost any topic you can think of. This includes mental health. Here are some suggested courses from some of the best people I know in this field:
Heidi Hanna, PhD is a globally recognized stress expert with courses that include Managing Stress for Positive Change and How to Manage Feeling Overwhelmed
Erin Shrimpton is an organizational psychologist and cultural change consultant with courses including Protect Your Well Being Through Change and Uncertainty and Preparing Yourself for Change - Her newsletter "Work, but Better" is worth checking out on LinkedIn
Dr Gemma Leigh Roberts is a chartered psychologist with 20 courses on LinkedIn Learning, including a few nano tips courses with quick tips on mindset shifts and strategies - her newsletter on LinkedIn has over 700,000 subscribers!
There is even a dedicated learning path called Support Your Mental Health at Work
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