Wellness & Well-being Highlights September 29th
Wellness & Well-being Highlights
for the
Week of September 29, 2025
This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog provides us a peep into the recent gathering of union tradeswomen in Chicago—to how DC is hiding data and has canceled the ‘hunger’ survey—to how a local high school teacher teaches Gen Z students about capitalism. This week I would like to take a closer look at the importance of relationships.
Kinsey explains that building trust and growing teams are more important than pedigrees and/or grand gestures. Why? Because “…it’s the small, thoughtful actions that people remember.”[1] Her advice to young professionals is straightforward: “Start with saying what you’ll do, then do it every time.”[1]
This brings me to a podcast I listened to just this weekend. It is titled “Lean on me brother & sister.…’[2] The focus is on the “work” of James Pursell and Aaron Walsh. I call them my LEAN Boys. If you have not already heard, the Laborers Health & Welfare Trust Fund for Locals 42 and 110 in St. Louis started a peer support program for their members and their families, nearly 3 years ago. The LEAN-STL program is modeled after the LEAN program that originated in Boston. LEAN in STL stands for Laborers Escaping Adversity Now. When compared to the Boston program, the STL version is more robust. While Boston addresses Opioid Use Disorder (OUD), LEAN-STL casts a wider net that includes Mental Health, Opioid/Substance Use Disorders, and Suicide Prevention / Intervention / Postvention. LiUNA’s Health & Safety Department is now working with their locals across the USA and Canada to implement various versions of the LEAN model.
As September (National Suicide Prevention Awareness month) comes to a close, it may be time to take an inventory of how prepared your workplace is when it comes to the mental aspects of safety. If feel your organization would like to learn more about how programs like LEAN-STL work, please join us at the next STL Building Trades Wellness Coalition meeting on:
Thursday – Oct 23, 2025
9:00a CT
IBEW Local 1 Hall
(For more info email: stlbtwellnesscoalition@gmail.com)
In the meantime, I highly encourage you to PLEASE take the time to listen to the aforementioned (folksy) podcast.[2] And, I think you will agree…My 2 heroes don’t wear capes!
Please check out the rest of this week’s blog: https://moworksinitiative.org/category/worker-wellness-news/
Underestimating Chronic Illness
BackStoppers & Injured First Responders
What is Your Teenage Boy Doing Online?
Gambling Addiction in Construction
Tradeswomen & Delaying Childbirth
Unionized Tradeswomen Gathering
Update: STL-KC Carpenters / Judge / Deposition
Trump / Homeless / Institutions
Trump Cancels Annual Hunger Survey
Handling a Worsening Job Market
Is the Middle Class Slipping Away?
Relationships vs Titles/Degrees
Upcoming webinars, etc.:
Vets / Meditation / Memory Loss (10/17)
Suicide Prevention thru Postvention
Schools & Suicide Postvention Support
LEAN-STL: Taking Care of Our Own
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 jgaal@moworks.org with related questions or comments.
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