Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Journey
In 2021-2022, there were 1,008 construction-related fatalities in the United States, according to the CDC. During the same period, there were five times as many suicides. In addition, overdose deaths increased dramatically between 2011 and 2018, according to the CDC, and that trend continues. One in three construction workers suffers from musculoskeletal disorders and prescription opioid use is 3 times higher in our industry.
We started our mental health and suicide prevention journey back in May 2022. It takes a lot of effort, commitment, and passion to develop a mental health program and to do it well. To that end, we enlisted Dr. Sally Spencer-Thomas, who is an expert in mental health and suicide prevention. Her passion for helping our industry is making a positive impact worldwide in the mental health space.
Lifesavers
To build the best program possible for Gilbane, we brought together some of the most passionate people, representative of job functions and geographies across the company, including safety, human resources, communications, operations, and more. With a great deal of pride, we call ourselves the Lifesavers. Our ultimate goal is to help create a healthier and safer workplace to enhance the incident and injury-free goal in the construction industry. We’re working to positively impact mental health and suicide prevention in the workplace and beyond.
When we started working on program development, our Lifesavers group never thought we could reach the height we are at now in our mental health journey. For example, more of our people are reaching out to our Employee Assistance Program and taking advantage of services like free counseling. Members of our team have learned how to assist people in crisis and get them help. Many more will be trained this year, including our leadership. We have made a difference in our culture and created a safe space where our people have been trained to say – ”It’s Okay Not to Be Okay – Let’s talk.”
Mental Health Visionaries Award
Recently Gilbane was honored to receive the Mental Health Visionaries Award (under the Large Company >1,500 employees category) at the 2nd Annual Construction Working Minds Summit in Kansas City, MO! Receiving the Mental Health Visionaries Award is a testament to everyone’s commitment and hard work to build a world-class mental health program for our ”PEOPLE.” We look forward to helping carry the mental health movement forward and moving the needle from awareness to impact in the importance of good mental health and suicide prevention in our workplace and beyond.
A special thanks to the core members of the Lifesavers group, which includes Andrew “Drew” Gaskins, CHST,STS-C Michael Sharpe, CSP, CRIS ,Thomas (TJ) Lyons, Wes Cotter Edwin Bennett III Margaret Reed Andrew Valentine, CHST, LEED AP Gage Rankin, CSP, CRIS, CHST, STSC Julia Koller Lynn Gillis(Willey), CEBS Lindsay Marshall Raghuvaran Chakkravarthy.
Additionally, our group is indebted to the leadership and support of Chief Human Resources Office Katherine Johnson, Chief Operating Officer Adam Jelen, and Corporate Safety Director Rebecca Severson. Thanks to their vision, we are making a positive difference in our workplace.
