Wellness & Well-being Highlights

for the

Week of January 29, 2023

 

This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog consists of topics from workaholism to taking care of your brain to two brothers in Florida creating a pill mill that can be linked to today’s opioids crisis. Today, I wish to shed some light on 2 stories that provide differing perspectives on today’s construction industry. While NYT’s Klein hints at how safety is important on the contemporary job site, he concurrently indicates that this issue—among other factors—has stifled productivity. Interestingly, Klein never tackles the issue of how today’s workforce no longer reflects that of 1970s. To this end, MWI has been leading an effort across the state based on a program developed by the STL construction industry nearly a decade ago: Building Union Diversity (BUD). If you have not listened to the recent St. Louis On The Air piece linked below, please do so…you won’t regret it. I think you will then agree that the vitality of an industrial sector, community, and household are made up of more than one datum point!

 

Sources: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/05/opinion/economy-construction-productivity-mystery.html?searchResultPosition=1

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/show/st-louis-on-the-air/2023-01-06/how-one-local-woman-became-an-ironworker-and-is-encouraging-others-to-start-construction-careers

 

 

Lead Safety

 

Amazon & OSHA

 

Well-being for Teens

 

Younger workers & Stress

 

MH breaks & College

Prison & Punishment

 

Workaholism (1)

 

Workaholism (2)

 

Seeking Awe

 

Phoning a friend

 

Youth / Well-being / Phone Calls

 

Surgeon General / Youth / Social Media

 

Stop ruminating!

 

Sleep & Your Brain

Taking a Mind Break

 

Recovery therapy

 

Homelessness (1)

 

Homelessness (2)

 

Homelessness (3)

 

Workplace Supported Recovery

 

Narcan & Vending Machines

 

ADA & SUD

 

Fentanyl & Recovery?

 

Pain & Glial Cells

 

Trauma & Trafficking

 

Outsmarting Gonorrhea?

 

Gaslighting & Narcissism

 

Birds & MH

Black Doulas

 

More on Menopause

 

Seniors & Depression

 

Retiree Romance Scams

 

American Pill Mill

 

Another legend passes on

 

Managers’ impact on MH

Is a 4-year degree necessary?

 

Burnout (1)

 

Burnout (2)

 

BUD’s new leader

 

On construction productivity

 

Youth Soccer & Suicide

 

 

Upcoming webinars:

 

Sports & Concussions Workshop

 

CTE Awareness Month Series

Wellness & Well-being Highlights

for the

Week of January 15, 2023

This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog consists of topics from the importance of social bonding to youth obesity to how PTSD impacts different portions of our population. Today, I wish to highlight the story on Recovery Friendly Workplaces (RFW). It is no secret that businesses across our region have been concerned about the shortage of workers. RFW is a program that addresses the need to SAFELY bring those workers who are in supervised treatment for OUD/SUD back into the workforce. As noted therein, a former Mizzou economics professor reported that Missouri has approximately 29000 workers who fit this category…of which ~3800 of those are construction workers! It is important to remember that OUD/SUD is now considered a disease not unlike diabetes. As such, businesses should consult their legal teams concerning how they can assist workers safely return to their shops, job sites and/or offices when adhering to the American with Disabilities Act and Mental Health Parity Act.

 

Source: https://news.stlpublicradio.org/show/st-louis-on-the-air/2023-01-20/recovery-friendly-workplaces-are-breaking-the-stigma-of-drug-rehabilitation

 

 

OSHA / Workplace Stress

 

Workers & The GREAT Rebalancing

 

Social bonds

 

Key to finding happiness?

 

Colleges & Student MH

 

Cross-cultural Suicide Prevention

 

Youth Obesity

 

Women / PTSD / Therapy

 

PTSD & Military

 

What is Fentanyl?

 

Recovery Friendly Workplaces / MO

 

OUD treatments

 

Fentanyl Test Strips

 

Narcan Distribution in COMO

 

Mexico’s battle w/ Cartels

 

Tranq Dope in Philly

 

Strongwomen & Suicide

 

Suicide Prevention

 

Doulas & Black Women

 

Sibling fights

 

Exercise & COVID

 

Morning exercise

 

10-minute Workout

 

Pickleball

 

Awe & Health

 

988 sees early usage

 

STL / 211 / Issues?

 

Boston’s Homeless

 

STL Building Union Diversity Program

 

US union market share

 

Amazon & Workers’ injuries

 

Amazon’s Smile wiped away

 

 

Upcoming webinars:

Living w/ Chronic Pain

 

Live your life well

 

Managing everyday worry

 

Mental Health First Aid

 

—CONSTRUCTION FOCUS—

Why We Need More Women in Construction

 

Strategies to Recruit and Retain Women

 

Being an Ally – Improving Treatment of Women on the Job

 

 

NOTE: The links provided above are for informational purposes only. None of these serve as a substitute for medical advice one should obtain from his/her own primary care physician and/or mental health professional. Please contact johngaal@moaflcio.org with related questions or comments.

 

Wellness & Well-being Highlights

for the

Week of January 1, 2023

 

This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog consists of topics from making/ignoring New Year’s resolutions to the impact of legalized marijuana in MO to recognizing the life, death, and mental health aspects of collision sports. Today, I wish to highlight the article that landed in my email 24 hours ago from the New York Times on Tranq Dope. If you have been following this blog for the past year or so, you should have noticed a number of articles on fentanyl and how it is destroying our people and their communities. I recently finished reading a 2021 book by Sam Quinones called, “The Least of Us.” In it he explains how meth and fentanyl are being mass produced (and mixed) for the US marketplace in Mexico with China’s ongoing support. Sadly, yesterday’s NYT article one ups Sam’s book. Why? Because we now have criminals who are adding a new drug (xylazine: a horse tranquilizer) into the fentanyl supply…which is causing people with OUD to lose arms and legs…before they lose their lives!

 

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/07/health/fentanyl-xylazine-drug.html?searchResultPosition=1

 

 

Leaders’ influence on MH

 

988 in MO

 

Speaking of suicide

 

Grief & Time

 

Another opioids settlement

Funding for safe-use sites?

 

Fentanyl’s new & SCARY twist

 

Magic mushrooms in OR

 

MO / Marijuana / Driving

 

Childhood trauma / Impact

 

Children & Weed edibles

 

Media & Changes in the teen brain

 

Food & housing insecurity / College

 

Soft skills for today

 

Today’s MH journey

New Year’s resolutions (1)

 

New Year’s resolutions (2)

 

New Year’s anti-resolutions

 

Digital declutter this New Year

 

A healthy relationship w/ work?

How to be happier in your job?

 

Simple habits

Self-care & Stress

Weight loss drug?

 

Tips to quit smoking

Neck & Back pain relief?

 

Vets & Homelessness

Living Apart

 

Damar / NFL / MH

 

Damar / NFL / Violence

 

Tua’s concussion: Update (1)

 

Tua’s concussion: Update (2)

 

Rugby / Concussions / Testing

 

Gen Z is Pro-union

 

Trades & Gen Z?

 

Trades & Pay

 

FTC / Non-compete Clauses

 

Upcoming webinars:

 

Legal marijuana in MO?

 

Mental Health First Aid

 

 

NOTE: The links provided above are for informational purposes only. None of these serve as a substitute for medical advice one should obtain from his/her own primary care physician and/or mental health professional. Please contact johngaal@moaflcio.org with related questions or comments.

 

 

Wellness & Well-being Highlights

for the

Week of December 18, 2022

This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog consists of topics from the homelessness crisis in the USA to the lowering of life expectancy in the USA to, once again, the impact of fentanyl on our society. Today, I wish to highlight the articles pertaining to how synthetic drugs (i.e., fentanyl and meth) are being weaponized by countries like China and Mexico to destroy communities from within. This blog has provided dozens of articles over the past year indicating how our loved ones are dying all around us…this scourge knows no boundaries! To this end, it is important to keep in mind that we reap what we sow. Our free market economy way of life continues to push manufacturers to seek lower costs and higher earnings. Often these producers must move production overseas in order to cut labor costs, etc. In turn, as consumers seek cheaper goods, we gut the backbone of our cities and towns: good paying jobs with benefits. Some experts suggest that China is exacting revenge for the Opium Wars (over 100 years ago) by leveraging the new idleness in these (rural) locales. America must reframe the concepts of addiction and recovery if we are to stem the tide of overdose deaths in this country!

 

Sources:

https://www.newsweek.com/exclusive-chinese-ambassador-warns-sanctions-hurt-fight-against-fentanyl-flow-us-1747680

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dmgBg7nw94

 

The homelessness crisis

2022 Women’s Health Survey

Suicide / Warning signs

Grief & Holidays

Loneliness & holidays

Managing Anxiety?

Gambling / Teens / College

Screening for anxiety <66

US life expectancy (1)

US life expectancy (2)

MH Journey

MH: More Americans seek help

Teens & MH

Candy & Addiction

Trauma & US Intelligence

Impact of pandemic on rural HC workers

Frats & Narcan

STL Co Opioids Settlement

Snap Chat & Fentanyl sales

Brief history of US plunge into opioids

US fentanyl deaths

Fentanyl seizure’s potential impact

Mexican cartels & Fentanyl

The shift from plant-based drugs to synthetic drugs

DEA’s fentanyl failure

Fentanyl’s flow from China to Mexico to USA

Testing for fentanyl

Fentanyl: How media misguides public

US Attorney General & Powder/Crack Cocaine

Vets / Pain / Acupuncture

Healing power of forgiveness

Plugging the plug on social media

Student loan: Update

Concussions & Q Collar: Real or Myth?

Child labor & Hyundai supplier

2022 & Union organizing

Upcoming Webinar:

Suicide Awareness & Prevention

 

 

NOTE: The links provided above are for informational purposes only. None of these serve as a substitute for medical advice one should obtain from his/her own primary care physician and/or mental health professional. Please contact johngaal@moaflcio.org with related questions or comments.

 

For many decades, organized labor has played a key role in establishing minimum safety standards in the US workplace. These efforts have mainly focused on the physical aspects of safety (i.e., falls, chemical exposure, noise reduction, etc.). More recently, public health professionals have identified that in order to better protect workers, the workforce eco-system must address the whole person. To this end, a major goal of establishing a WWP is to ensure that all workers have access to timely information regarding their mental aspects of safety on the job and in the community. In so doing, we will offer programming and advice on issues related to work-life balance, wellness, and well-being.

As the WWP develops, we will seek partnerships with local community agencies so that programming can be tailored to local needs. It is our intention to have a presence in towns across the state as a means to deliver training and/or perform research that informs our future activities for the benefit of all workers.

Wellness & Well-being Highlights

for the

Week of December 4, 2022

 

Workers & Recovery Friendly Workplaces

CPWR’s Report on Opioids Misuse & Suicide Prevention

MH: Construction Industry

New Dashboard & Tracking Opioids ODs (1)

New Dashboard & Tracking Opioids ODs (2)

MH: Prisons v Treatment

Prisons & Drug Treatment

MH: Employee sick leave

NYC’s MH crisis

MH & College retention efforts

Oregon & Alcohol

Kids: Alcohol v Pot

Marijuana in MO

Meth / Fentanyl / Homelessness

Meth & Monks

Toddlers / Parents / Fentanyl

Fentanyl at the border

Fentanyl’s scourge

New Challenge: Reversing Fentanyl ODs

Fast-tracking Narcan

Sleep / Benzos / OD risk

Subjective: Youth & Age?

Mindfulness / Kids / Stress

When younger workers speak up

PKs / Pressure / Success

World Cup & Human Rights

World Cup & Forced Labor

 

NOTE: The links provided above are for informational purposes only. None of these serve as a substitute for medical advice one should obtain from his/her own primary care physician and/or mental health professional. Please contact johngaal@moaflcio.org with related questions or comments.