Wellness & Well-being Highlights March 4

Wellness & Well-being Highlights

for the

Week of March 4, 2024

This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog touches on the impact of the Drug Cartels’ multi-pronged destruction within our communities to how some of these same communities have responded with successful/unsuccessful (SUD/OUD) harm reduction efforts—to how immigration crackdowns at the US-Mexico border have implications on the US’s (low-wage) worker shortage…not to mention which “class” mainly benefits from those low-wage workers. Today, I wish to shed some light on the importance of “your voice” when it comes to policy-making in Washington, DC. You and I currently have the opportunity to shape the future of the US-DOL Registered Apprenticeship Program (RAPs) system. Between now and March 18^th, I ask that you consider submitting a comment in the portal below* supporting a requirement that RAPs going forward include NO less than 1-hour of Mental Health training. For the past 20 years, I have been working with researchers across the USA on worker safety issues. When we began, our focus was entirely on the physical aspects of safety (i.e., slips, trips, falls, etc.). However, when the worldwide economic crisis hit in 2007, before long it became evident that we needed to cast a wider net to include the mental aspects of safety. Back then, little did I know that this concept already had a name in the field of Public Health: Total Worker Health (TWH). In essence, BOTH labor and management have a duty to ensure that workers are protected physically from injury and illness as well as mentally by advancing their well-being. From that point forward, our researchers—along with several partners (e.g., contractors, unions, CFSTL, The Labor Tribune, PreventEd, etc.)—have made strides in various industries across the region regarding the dissemination of our findings on how Mental Health, Opioids Awareness, and Suicide Prevention have impacted the lives of OUR workers and THEIR communities. I cannot think of a Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee that has NOT required First Aid/CPR/AED and OSHA-10 in the past 20 years. Simply put…Isn’t it time WE insist that Mental Health deserves a rightful seat at the RAP training table?**

PLEASE join me in submitting a brief comment that supports the inclusion of Mental Health training in US-DOL’s RAP standards going forward. NOTE: The DEADLINE is MARCH 18, 2024 @ 5p (ET).

Sources: https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/drug-cartels-expand-murder-extortion-trafficking-146ede54?st=wz036vzh3e1uzk2&reflink=article_gmail_share

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/01/opinion/moral-hazard-drug-addiction.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/02/13/1231118235/to-stop-fentanyl-deaths-in-philly-knocking-on-doors-and-handing-out-overdose-kit

https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/border-crackdowns-wont-solve-americas-immigration-crisis-f21b0c4b?st=exngr797vggo3h4&reflink=article_gmail_share

*https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/01/17/2023-27851/national-apprenticeship-system-enhancements

** https://www.constructforstl.org/study-makes-case-for-mental-health-training-in-apprentice-rule-updates/

Teachers / Classrooms / Promoting MH

Puget Sound / CJNG Cartel / Meth