Build a Mental Health & Suicide Prevention Program That Works

Hello and welcome. Thanks so much for joining today. Today's session is on building mental health and suicide prevention programs within your safety systems.

This is a topic we're hearing more and more about in the field. Teams know it matters, but many aren't sure what to actually put into place or how to manage it day to day.

Today's goal is to move from awareness to action. So what a program actually includes, how to build it into your safety program, and what leaders can do in real moments when something feels off.

Before we jump in, a quick note on how to make the most out of today. So this session will be recorded so you'll be able to go back and reference it or share it with others and please feel free to drop any questions in the chat at any point.

If we can't get to your question we will make sure to follow-up with you via email we'll also be sharing some really valuable all free resources at the end of this so stay tuned for that.

All right, let's get started. My name is Melanie Russell, I am a communications specialist with Vimocity. For those unfamiliar with Vimocity, we work with safety and operations teams to help prevent common injuries and improve workforce readiness through practical expert led content delivered across the places crews work.

And I'm super excited to have Sonya Bowmann joining us today.

She's the Executive Director of the Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention and leads industry wide efforts around prevention, intervention, and postvention. Sonya, I'll turn it over to you for a quick self intro.

Thanks, Melanie, and thanks for having me today. My name is Sonia Bowmann, I am the Executive Director of the Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention. We are a 501c3 that focuses on mental health, suicide prevention, and safety in construction.

Our vision is a zero suicide industry, but we know we have a very long way to go, and we'll talk about some of those statistics. A little bit of background about myself is that I do come from construction, light construction, remodels, refreshes, facilities, maintenance. And I did that for over a decade. But my passion really lies in suicide prevention. I am a loss survivor, and that's really given me an opportunity to take something that I cared about or an industry that I cared very much about and something that I'm passionate about and put the two of those together and continue to do this work every day.

Thank you so much for that intro. And we're, yeah, again, so excited to have you here today.

I'm just gonna go into a quick disclaimer message before we hop into our conversation.

So just want to acknowledge this topic, this is a conversation about mental health and suicide prevention.

We will have open, authentic, and frank conversations around this topic, but we will not talk about methods, means, or location. We will also aim to use safe language and messaging, holding this discussion in a compassionate and supportive manner.

However, it still can be activating or heavy for some. If that's the case for you or it becomes the case during this discussion, feel free to step away and come back at any point that feels right. Or if you just want to come back for the resources at the end, that's totally fine. Again, this session will be recorded and shared afterwards, so if you wish to revisit it later, that will be an option for you as well.

All right, so Sonya, to start high level, what's happening in the industry right now when it comes to mental health and why is it something safety leaders can't afford to ignore?

Well, I think there's lots of conversation that is happening around the industry right now, specifically.

It's mental health month, or May is mental health month. And so that's a great time for people to start having these conversations. But the fact is, is that we can't ignore anymore the numbers that go with this.

So typically in construction or in safety, we focus on OSHA's Focus four or fatal worker injuries.

And if we look at what those numbers look like for construction, there were about one thousand deaths by the Focus four, and we're typically looking at data that's two to three years behind. So we're talking about twenty twenty three data at this point. Twenty twenty four data will come out in the next few months.

However, there's about one thousand fatal worker injuries in construction, but conversely, there were five thousand deaths by suicide. So this is a conversation that has to happen. It's one that we are starting to take up across the industry. But sadly enough, there's still places that feel like they don't have a suicide problem, it hasn't affected them on a job site, and that they don't have a anxiety or depression or mental health problem in their workplace.

If you can see the slide that was just put up, when that's the feeling that companies are having or supervisors are having.

It's important to recognize that there were surveys done. This survey specifically goes back to twenty twenty one, but it holds true still today, and I would say it's probably even higher, is that when surveyed construction workers said that they were experiencing high rates of anxiety or depression, and they weren't really sure which one, but specifically called out that anxiety at about fourteen point five percent and depression in about almost seven percent. And those things affect the on the job safety that's happening day in and day out. So if you're not ready to have this conversation, think about what those numbers do to the safety that those conversations you are having on your job sites.

Yeah, absolutely. It's what makes this topic so challenging. Happening, but not everyone always feels equipped to step in and know what to do next. So, what should leaders understand about how to talk about mental health and suicide prevention safely and appropriately?

It's a great question. I think first and foremost, we need to figure out how to have this conversation, and the how starts with really what words that we use because language matters. And so when we think about suicide prevention or mental health in general, really what words we use can make or break the conversation from a compassion standpoint, from an ability for people that are struggling to come forward. So there's been a bit of a shift in the way that we talk about suicide.

Many of us that have grown up have used the words commit, and that's how suicide's always been talking about. They committed suicide. But when we shift that language away from the word commit, because while there are some ways that the word commit can be positive, you can certainly commit to a goal, You can commit to a relationship. The negative outweighs the positive in many aspects, or the way that we have framed this conversation puts that word in a negative light.

So I wouldn't call it a fun fact, but for those of us that focus on this, a fun fact is that up until the '70s, it was actually illegal to die by suicide. So when you think about the word commit, there's often the connotation of crime that goes with the word. And then the other side of that is that culturally, and there are lots of different cultures that are represented in the construction industry, but from a cultural standpoint, when you use the word commit, the word is often tied to a sin and how that fits into this conversation and how there's many languages that don't even have a word for suicide because it's such a taboo conversation.

And so really thinking about how we have these conversations in compassionate ways. So switching the language from committed suicide to died by suicide allows us to look at what happened and how it happened versus it being a choice that someone made where there's really a health condition that typically goes along with that. The other thing that happens with the word commit is that we think of being committed to a facility. And it brings back all of the imagery that the media has created around what mental health facilities look like and what help really looks like.

And if we can strip back some of that negativity to really what it looks like to get help, then people are more willing to seek help when they need it.

Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's so helpful. Every time I chat with you, I feel like I learn something new, which is so critical and important. And I just think a lot of people don't know how to approach it or are just unsure about the safe language. So thank you so much for sharing that.

And from your perspective, why should safety leaders view mental health and suicide prevention as part of their safety responsibility and not seen as something completely separate?

Well, I think that this is a hard sort of place to enter, right? And so safety leaders sometimes feel like it should be an HR conversation.

HR sometimes feels like it should be a safety conversation. Supervisors are saying, I don't know how to talk about this.

And so it's difficult to see who should be the person responsible for it. And when that happens, a lot of people will say, Well, I don't know how to have this conversation, so I'm just not going to have the conversation. But what we know is that we can't ignore this anymore. We have to start having these open and honest conversations.

So the best place to think about it is that we focus a lot on safety. We focus on making sure that we are focused on trips, slips, and falls. We're focused on ladder safety, electrocution, and all of those things. But we're not always focused on under the hard hat safety and that the head is connected to the body and we have to look at them as a unit.

And when we look at them as a unit, we then can talk about this holistically. So if somebody is not at their best mentally, are they going to be making sure that they're using all of the safety and all of the sort of protocols that go with keeping themselves and others safe on a job site, and kind of thinking about that holistically, and then figuring out ways that you can talk about it. And it doesn't necessarily mean you have to be a counselor, you don't have to have a bunch of initials behind your name, but any one of us can say like, Are you okay? It doesn't feel like you are your best today, or You're not usually one that jumps to conflict, but you've gotten into three arguments already this morning and it's ten zero five.

What's different?

Right. And once you start to look at it on more of that holistic approach, it's not separate from safety at all. It's just showing up in how people perform every day on the job. So a lot of companies are talking about mental health right now, especially with May being Mental Health Awareness Month, but where are you seeing some real progress?

So it's really interesting when you talk about progress, because we could talk about companies that have really great and strong programs that are fully focused on mental health. But I think what we see is a lot of companies doing small things that have started shifting the culture on their job sites.

So for some people, it's about creating access to language and learning how to have some of their leadership speak Spanish and some of their trade professionals speak English so that there's a place to meet in the middle and creating things like translations or having interpreters when they're having meetings. That's a way to shift the culture and to protect people's mental health. One of the things that we know is that isolation or loneliness is a big risk factor. And when we have access to language, we don't feel so lonely.

And so that starts creating some of those ties. We have companies that are able to provide support staff on a job site for as long as that job site runs. So it may be that you have somebody that has mental health background that's there, that's part of the community, that's walking around and checking in on people, but is able when someone comes forward and says, I think I have a substance use issue, can connect to them immediately to what those resources look like in a community.

It might also be as simple as having, when you are having your subcontractors do a bid, that they have to have a mental health component as part of that bid package. And that mental health component can be something as simple as gatekeeper training, where they have to engage in one of our trainings, or they have to engage in QPR training, or one of the other amazing trainings that are out there by a plethora of organizations that we can share about.

Yeah, that's great to hear that there's momentum building. And then a lot of times, some of those smaller actions can add up to something really large for an organization to take those strides.

It's important to think about that you don't have to make this sweeping change. You don't have to all of a sudden say, We are engaging in this activity. But small cultural shifts make a huge difference.

Absolutely, yeah, those micro habits just add up over time. Yeah, totally agree. Absolutely. And on the flip side, what do you see as often missing when organizations address mental health and suicide prevention?

I think making it part of your safety conversation. So when we make this a May conversation and a September conversation, May being mental health month and September being suicide prevention month, it feels like it's something that we have to do. It's a box that we're checking. It's just a, well, this is what's happening, so we're going to put this into the conversation.

But when you really make it a twelve month a year conversation and it doesn't always have to be, this is strictly suicide prevention, and we're going to talk about these big topics, or we're going to talk about big topics around mental health, but taking the safety conversations that you're already having. So in the summer months, talk about hydration and where hydration has a direct correlation on your mental health. When you're super busy, talk about sleep deprivation and how sleep deprivation has a really direct connection to your mental health. And drawing different parallels to what's already happening in your safety conversations allows this to be something that just is part of the culture of the company.

It's part of how you talk about safety, and it connects your head to the rest of your body.

Yeah, absolutely. Just all that is so easy to add on how all those things can impact you physically and mentally and can be touched on year round.

So if a safety leader wants to build a mental health and suicide prevention program, what should that actually include from your perspective?

We

make it really easy for someone to do that.

So you can visit our website, which is preventconstructionsuicide dot com. And the first thing I would say is take the pledge. So you take a pledge to stand up to suicide prevention. It's one hundred percent free, but it really allows people to start to have that moment, the one step into the conversation.

So we use the word stand a lot in our processes. So S is for safety, T is for training, A is for awareness, N is for normalize, and D is for decrease. So you stand up to suicide prevention, you take then our needs analysis, which is a tool that allows someone to recognize what they have in place from a mental health and suicide prevention program and what's missing or what gaps are created. And then you can go to our pathway, which is on our website, and it allows you to start building out what you need.

So we've used some terminology that is more specific to construction, but it really goes with the prevention, intervention, postvention pieces. And so it's about awareness. How can you create awareness? Where can you use those other ten months to talk about mental health?

And how can you bring that conversation to your every day on a job site?

Can you put nine eighty eight posters around? Can you put posters of warning signs? Where can you sort of start entering this conversation or peppering the conversation through what you do on a daily basis?

And then you can move to once you kind of have awareness or prevention started, then you can move to intervention or what we kind of call the, like the training or the education piece of it. And so you can then figure out what, what, how do you train your people? What needs to be part of that? What resources do you have? Do you have an EAP? Do you need an EAP? How do you shop for an EAP, which is an employee assistance program, if people aren't familiar with that.

And then there's the postvention, because not everybody enters this conversation in the same space. So for some, they might come after a loss and think, well, we have these gaps that are created and how do we fill them? So you might come in through that piece of the conversation, and how do you create safety plans or crisis management plans that take care of that? What do you do if somebody is struggling? What does that look like? And so all of the resources are there for someone to build this out. It's one hundred percent free, and it's one hundred percent accessible to whether you're a large, medium, or small company to be able to have something to guide you through this process so that you can make it part of your safety and your regular processes and policies in your company.

Yeah, I love that. And I love that you are making it so easy for people to go to a space that's completely free and get those tools and resources and find a place for people to start.

And you obviously went to the three places that you can enter the conversation, awareness, intervention, prevention.

Do you have any other examples or tools or approaches you've seen work well in the field outside of that?

I do. I think that when companies start to decide that this is no longer just a priority or the thing that we're going to make the hot topic of today, then they start to see real change. And when you go from it being a priority or the thing that's tied to revenue, or tied to what's happening specifically right now, or a reaction to something that's already happened on a job site, but really making this a core value. I would bet that everybody listening to this conversation would say that, Oh, no, safety is a core value in our company. Well, does that core value include mental health? Because if it's not including mental health, is safety really a core value for you? And core values are something that your company is, they are sort of who you are all of the time.

They're not tied to revenue. They don't change when there's something new that comes up, but it's how you function every day. And it's what attracts people to your company and want and keeps them to stay there too.

For sure.

A lot of this conversation does come down to what happens at the frontline and those day to day interactions. And to your point, that core value is so critical because that's really at the core when you're showing up every day to work.

So how can safety leaders equip frontline leaders to recognize when something's off and how to respond before it escalates or becomes a crisis?

I think having open, honest conversations about the warning signs, making sure that you have posters put up about them. What we know about suicide prevention is that when you are in the thick of it yourself and you're struggling, it's really hard to reach out and ask for help. But if we train the helpers to look for those people that are struggling, that's where really lives get to be saved. So looking at those warning signs, what are people saying that are different?

What are they doing that's different? And what else is happening in their lives? But to be able to tune into those things, we have to know our people. And we also have to recognize that sometimes warning signs, specifically in construction, show up as performance issues.

So if someone is late for work more often than ever before and this isn't someone that's always late for work, but it's that person that you've really counted on to be your steady Eddie, the person that you look to when you're not going to be there, or the person that you would leave in charge, or kind of leads by example, when they start showing up for work late, or they sit in their vehicle till just right before it's time to start work, then that's a shift in behavior.

And it's not usually quiet quitting, or any of those buzzwords that we've come up with in management now, but there's probably something deeper there. And maybe they're jumping to conflict more often, or they're not paying attention to safety in a way that they used to, or maybe it's as simple as they're not able to problem solve like they typically, like you would count on them for.

So those are the times where we have to dig a little bit deeper into that conversation and just check-in and say, I'm really concerned about you. These These are not typical behaviors from you. And sometimes when people are exhibiting those, there's something deeper going on. Are you okay?

And initially people will say, Oh no, I'm fine. I'm fine. Everything's fine. And then we have to dig a little bit deeper.

And sometimes we have to say, I noticed this, these warning signs that you saw. And sometimes when somebody is doing those things, they're thinking of suicide.

Are you thinking of suicide?

And while that seems like a really harsh and strong conversation to have, it is often the one that will get people to say, You know what, I really am struggling.

Yeah. And that's so crucial and powerful. And I think you mentioning those warning signs sometimes feel like, Oh, maybe I shouldn't bring something up or I'm overreacting. But I think to your point, there's only positive or reassurance that could come out of it if that person isn't struggling.

So you kind of touched on this, but what does a supportive, conversation sound like in a real moment? And how do you build that trust so people feel comfortable speaking up?

Well, I think it's being present, right? It's knowing your people, connecting in often so that you're not only connecting in when there's a problem. So having conversations on a job site, talking about family, offering support, finding common connections, whether it's over a hobby or kids or sports, whatever that looks like, but really just being human and connecting in on a deeper level.

And then asking, are you Okay but waiting for the answer? Because we often will be like, hey, you Okay? And just keep going, or how are doing today?

But listening for what that answer is. And if that answer isn't one that's a typical one, so it might be like, you know what, I'm living the dream, or I'm a burden to everyone. Or you might hear people say like, I don't want to be here anymore, or my family's better off with my insurance check than my paycheck. And then that's a moment to stop and say, like, that's not how you would normally respond to this. So what's really going on here? Tell me what's happening.

How's everything at home?

How's your health? Whatever that looks like, because we don't know what people are bringing into the job site. We used to say for years, leave it at the gate, leave it at the door, leave it at wherever. But that's not possible.

We're humans. And again, that head is connected to your body. You can't leave part of that out there. So what else are you bringing to the job?

And how can we talk about it and create safe spaces to have compassionate conversations? And then know what to do when you get the information. So do you need to refer that person to the EAP? Do you need to refer them to your health insurance provider?

Do you have those things to refer to? Is the person really in crisis? And if they're in crisis, what's the process for that? What's the crisis management plan?

Is there a space that you can take them to to talk to? Is there someone on-site that's trained to be able to do that? Do you have a mental health first dater or someone else that knows how to take that person from crisis to those next steps, and who is the person. And so knowing what that is before you get to that spot is really important to how we treat that person and how we take care of them.

We would have those plans in place for if someone cut themselves or if someone had a cardiac event on a job site. So have the same things in place for someone who maybe is in a mental crisis or in an overdose crisis.

For sure.

And I think that could be a big shift for a lot of leaders, but it's also where you start to see real impact.

So how mentioned that some cultures are kind of leave it out the gate mentality, and I think there's still some that are like that. So what kind of helps shift a culture when people don't wanna talk about this to making it a culture to where they do want to talk about it?

Well, I think it goes to, again, really wanting to get to know your people, really wanting to create spaces where you're attracting that next generation because they want to talk about this.

And it's hard to make that shift from we don't do this at all to figuring out those spaces and places. And I did say like, I don't want you to just make this a May conversation or a September conversation, but those are sometimes the places where you get to dip your toe into the conversation. And so if a company just slowly starts posting, it's mental health month, OSHA just did it this year for the first time. They had a post that said, it's mental health month and listed some mental health resources.

So maybe that's the way to start the conversation. Or September is suicide prevention month, and that's the way to start the conversation.

But you really can tie something about mental health to almost every single month that's out there.

So I think August is pet day or puppy day or something like that.

It has to do with that because what we often do is we ask people to send us pictures of their pets because there is a direct correlation between pets and your dopamine rising. And when your dopamine rises, people are happier. So that's maybe an easy way to start this conversation that doesn't have to be just about, if you enter construction, you're five times more likely to die by suicide. That's not the way to start this conversation.

It's the truth, and it's a fact that's out there. But sometimes we have to go a little slower so that people start hearing the message and start recognizing it. And that's how we start to create cultural shifts, checking in on people, creating peer to peer relationships, doing things as simply as having available a recovery meeting at the beginning or the end of a day so that people could enter those if they felt like it or they needed it.

Just small things like that, that don't cost a company money, allow us to start creating spaces where people want to work for you and feel safe mentally and physically.

Yeah, couldn't agree more. And I think you've listed so many great examples of ways to enter this conversation. So thank you for kind of covering that spectrum.

I know we're wrapping up on time here, so last question for you is just for teams that are getting started, what are the first two to three steps you would recommend?

Well, first recognize you don't have to do this all on your own. You don't have to recreate the wheel. We have some really great website. We have a really great website and some really great resources for you, but there's tons of other places that you can go to start the conversation.

You can go to CPWR's website. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention just started a program in the last year called Hard Hat Courage, and that focuses on construction. The National Alliance for Mental Illness has some really great tools, but there's lots of information out there, and you can use it and access it. So start there.

Go to our website. Like I said, start with a stand up pledge and then take that needs analysis and figure out where your gaps are and then go out there and start pulling those resources together.

Awesome. That's so great. Just very simple, actionable places without over complicating So really appreciate it. Well, Sonya, honestly, really appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule with us today. Just obviously your wisdom, expertise is so incredibly practical and helpful for all of us. Thank you again.

Just for everyone on the call, mental health isn't separate from safety. Just a reminder, it's part of how risks show up every day.

Building a program doesn't mean you have to start from scratch, it's just about integrating into your day to what already

exists. We

have on the screen here some free resources for you.

The first one, if you scan this QR code, will take you to a few free resources to get you started on mental health awareness. And then the next screen we have is another free resource from the Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention. These resources are always free. They're a nonprofit, so there are many ways you can get involved with them on their website.

Make sure to scan both and we'll send a follow-up with both of these resources via email as well.

Again, if you dropped any questions in the chat we didn't get to, we'll make sure to follow-up after this event.

If you are interested in any future sessions with us, you can scan this QR code and you'll stay on the loop about future events from Vimocity.

Sonya, thank you so much again, and thank you everyone, and we'll see you next time.

Thanks so much.