Saving Face to Save a Life

By / Don Procter

About four years ago when a number of workers from union Locals across the country acknowledged to Chris Carlough that they knew members who had committed suicide, Carlough realized the industry could not ignore the subject anymore.

Director of Education for SMART, Carlough set about laying plans to address what appeared to be an increasing issue in the sheet metal world.

One of his priorities was to organize peer support training through SMART MAP that engaged workers to take a role in helping troubled workers with suicidal thoughts. Since then, SMART MAP has trained about 400 people, including organizers, business representatives, training coordinators, instructors, and officers.

Job stewards, journeypersons, “and members who are looked up to” are also prime candidates for training, he says. “It is a lot of proactive intervention stuff and we are integrating it everywhere [nationally].”

Today, having at least one person on a job site with peer support training is SMART MAP’s goal. “I think it is very achievable,” he says.

There is good reason for a comprehensive peer support network in the industry. A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2016 concluded that construction has more suicides than any other industry. “It’s significantly higher than the general population,” adds Sally Spencer-Thomas, clinical psychologist who has teamed up with SMART MAP to assist with the peer workshop training.

The CDC study didn’t break down stats into various sectors of construction so it is unknown how sheet metal compares to other building sectors, but observers suggest it is a problem that needs attention.

Spencer-Thomas applauds SMART MAP’s peer support training workshops. “I don’t know anyone who has done as much around implementation of a hands-on practical (prevention) tactic as SMART has done.

“In my opinion peers are the most important link in the chain of survival,” she says, adding that she teaches a day of the fourday peer training workshops presented through SMART.

The CDC’s report was impetus for SMACNA to join the Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention (CIAS), established by the Construction Financial Management Association to promote awareness of suicide prevention.

Bringing the subject of suicide to the forefront is a starting point, says SMACNA Director of Market Sectors and Safety Mike McCullion. “We have committed to getting awareness out to all of our chapters through regular communications and by providing resources to our members about suicide prevention.” That includes advertising MAP’s peer training workshops.

“When people aren’t afraid to talk about it, than hopefully they can start to address it,” points out McCullion, noting at a council meeting open to the 100 or so chapters in SMACNA, he gave a presentation on suicide prevention to an attentive group.

Spencer-Thomas says risk factors for construction workers include high pressure environment, transitory work, maledominated “tough guy” world, and hard labor that can lead to chronic pain and a diet of pain killers.

Access to lethal means on the job is another factor in the industry’s high ranking, she says, noting that if one of two equally unwell people has access to lethal means (for example working at heights, with dangerous equipment or electricity), that person is more apt to die by suicide.

While depression and mood disorders are a top cause of suicide, drug addiction is another, she says.

Training through SMART MAP includes how to recognize signs and symptoms of someone in distress and tactics of prevention, including compassion/support and how to link workers to mental health resources, says Carlough. Volunteers are “empathetic and good listeners,” and apt to catch early symptoms of depression. They also provide followup support.

He says the advantage of peer support over help from mental health professionals is that peers are close at hand daily.

Carlough sees locals taking to peer support training. A case in point is in Colorado Springs where Andy Gilliland, an apprenticeship coordinator who took SMART MAP training last year, found about 10 journeyperson mechanics from his Local and started a peer training program this year.

“It’s the next step in a long-range plan to sharpen training and provide resources nation-wide for all of our locals,” says Carlough. “The more we don’t talk about it and stuff it inside— that is when a lot things come out sideways such as substance abuse or dangerous behaviors.”

Spencer-Thomas, who lost her brother to suicide in 2004, is the founder and president of United Suicide Survivors International. She says the conversation has to include risk and safety managers on sites because not all fatalities are accidents; some are suicides. “It is a very eye-opening thing for people who have been invested in safety for a long time to consider having to add suicide prevention to the safety game,” she says.

McCullion sees it as a priority, saying contractors need to put mental health issues, including suicide, into health and safety agendas.

“You talk about teaching how to tie off, use protective equipment, and so on,” he says. “There is no reason why you couldn’t do some training on mental health and suicide prevention, because it is a big part of what many workers face on a regular basis.”

An end goal at SMART MAP is to vanquish the stigma of suicide. Carlough believes that in five years a strong partnership will be forged between union Locals and their contracting partners to improve member health and safety strategies. The spin off: increased profitability for contractors because healthy workers are apt to be productive. “It is going to benefit all sectors: the member, their family, the contractor and the end user,” he says. •

Don Procter is a freelance writer based in Toronto, Canada. Sally Spencer-Thomas presented a session titled, “Resilience and Suicide Prevention” at the 2018 Partners in Progress Conference.

As CEO and Co-Founder of the Carson J. Spencer Foundation, Sally Spencer-Thomas is both a clinical psychologist and an impact entrepreneur who works closely with the Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention. Her session explored why building a culture of care in our industry can build resilience in our workforce and help prevent suicide, and how a culture of care requires a mindset in addition to skills and tools.

This and other sessions from the Partners in Progress Conference are available for viewing and for download online at http://www.pinp.org/ conferences/pinp18/schedule/.