Wellness & Well-being Highlights September 15th

Wellness & Well-being Highlights

for the

Week of September 15, 2025

This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog looks at how England and Australia are taking steps to prevent suicides in their Construction Industries—to steps you can take to assist in ‘calming down’ during these trying times—to how chronic pain impacts women differently than men. This week I would like to take a closer look at the importance of peer support.

To say the least, this past week has been exhausting for many of us! From 9/11 Remembrance Ceremonies to the shooting death of a political influencer to the tragic loss of another construction worker to suicide. During these trying times, we need to make an effort to reach out to others for connection. Research suggests that for some of us, the isolation during COVID upended many of our social networks. Now is the time where we can begin to focus on rebuilding those support networks. Thankfully, a few unions have taken steps to build peer support programs in hopes that these systems re-connect us and, thus, play a significant role in our healing process.[1]

It is no secret to any of you who have attended one of my recent presentations that I—more often than not—lead off with what I call my ‘WHY?’ slide. This slide, based on research from CPWR (the research arm of NABTU), clearly and concisely presents 3 facts related to deaths in the US Construction Industry (2022):

1) Work-related (991)

2) Suicides (5200)

3) Drug Overdoses (17,100)

Some experts would suggest that numbers 2 and 3 above can be directly/indirectly linked to the ‘isolation’ mentioned above. I am not simply talking about physical isolation but, more importantly, mental isolation. Too many of us have been brought up in cultures that instilled in us that “asking for help” was a sign of weakness. Sadly, these wrong-headed ‘household’ beliefs/attitudes permeated throughout other aspects of our communities by infiltrating our school systems, sports teams, workplaces, etc.

Please join me in taking a stand: Ask for help! It is a sign of courage that fosters growth & learning; builds trust & relationships; improves productivity; empowers others; and reduces stress.

Please check out the rest of this week’s blog: https://moworksinitiative.org/category/worker-wellness-news/

Source: [1] https://constructforstl.org/gaal-studies-peer-support-mental-health/

Peer Support in Construction

Suicide Prevention / Parternships / Vulnerability

UK: Construction’s Silent Crisis

Australia: Suicide & Supporting Construction Workers

Suicide Prevention / Veterans / Needs Improvement

Beyond the Opioid Crisis: Emerging Threats

Frankenstein Drug: 100x > Fentanyl

Mental Health Openness: 20% Employers

Calming Steps

Surviving 9/11…Healing Others