Wellness & Well-being Highlights April 14th

Wellness & Well-being Highlights

for the

Week of Apr 14, 2025

This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog looks at how a number of stories cited this week speak to the issue of how cuts in DC will (and already have) negatively impact much-needed services in local communities—to some positive news regarding the decline of US overdoses deaths—to the NFL’s position on ‘new’ helmets. This week I would like to take this opportunity to examine the article linked below that tells the story of how a person who was given a 2^nd chance now uses his lessons learned to create a ‘culture of care’ in the construction industry.

For too long, the construction industry has been looked upon in a negative light. Decades ago, many in the world of work saw us as something ‘anyone’ could fall back on to and still make a living wage with good benefits.* Many people in the US still look down upon those of us who work(ed) with our hands. A few would say this has to do with the 3 Ds: dirty; dark (or dull); and dangerous. While others might be inclined to lean on old stereotypes of a once White male-dominated sector of our economy: macho, drinking, swearing, risk-taking, etc. However, times have changed and as the old saying goes, “You have to break some eggs to make an omelet.”

To be sure, the construction industry for the past several decades has been touting a potential shortage of workers. Thanks to progressive thought leaders in the St. Louis market, most joint labor-management training committees met this challenge by re-thinking their recruitment strategies. Effective recruiting and retention programs like St. Louis’ BUD (Building Union Diversity) began to spring up and spread across then USA. And, yet, needs in many areas remained unmet. Meanwhile, college tuition costs started to skyrocket and college degrees lost their luster. As a result, today’s high school seniors have become discerning consumers. So, if our industry seeks to recruit and retain Gen Z workers, we must take into consideration what is important to them which requires letting go of old practices (i.e., hazing, bullying, etc.). Equally important, Gen Z is much more open to addressing a once-taboo topic of previous generations: Mental Health.

To this end, it was not until recently (~2016), for the most part, that the construction industry took serious steps in addressing issues like mental health, opioids awareness, and suicide prevention. For this, I thank Wash U’s School of Medicine and the unions, management associations, and apprenticeship training schools that participated in research since 2004 that truly moved the needle…thus, placing ‘mental’ aspects of safety in the construction industry on par with ‘physical’ aspects of safety. PLEASE take the time to read Cal’s article linked below. Hopefully, you will agree with me that this is just another meaningful step in a never-ending journey.

(*This notion was further exacerbated in our K-12 school system. How? If you were an urban/suburban child of the 1960-80s, I ask you to reflect upon the friends/students you knew who went to the Voc-Tech high school in your area v who followed the ‘college’ track.)

Source: https://www.forconstructionpros.com/business/business-services/coaching-consulting/article/22934249/safe-project-mental-health-and-substance-misuse-support-in-apprenticeship-programs

Construction / Change / Culture

UK Construction / Physical Activity / MH

Annual HC Screening = Suicide Prevention

AI & MH Therapy

Overdose deaths decrease…but this is NOT over

Misinformation: Fentanyl