Not sure about mental health?
Reach out. By / Jessica Kirby
The tide is turning on the way Canadians think about mental health. Once the unspeakable and misunderstood, more effective and forthright communication, education, and acceptance among employers, government, and the general public has shed light on this issue, which affects one in five Canadians. This awareness is also a sliver lining of the pandemic. The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health says 50% of Canadians reported worsening mental health since COVID began and a more recent survey said 81% of respondents reported that COVID has negatively affected their mental health. Of course, the increase isn’t the silver lining—the awareness is. The positive side of this dramatic uptick in feelings of worry, anxiety, and in some cases, depression, is that it is impossible to ignore. We are all affected, directly or otherwise, by mental health concerns, whether a spouse’s depression is creating a struggle in the family or the cashier at grocery world is snappy because she is anxious working with the public with an immune-compromised child at home. No matter how you look at it., the playing field has levelled when it comes to gender, age, and socioeconomic status, such that it has become abundantly clear that mental health concerns know no boundaries. But that also means no one is exempt from talking about it, which is a step in the right direction.
Individuals working in the construction industry have traditionally suffered disproportionately compared with other industries, with men taking the brunt of that affliction. Statistics Canada estimates that 33% of workers in the construction industry report poor mental health, and 64% would like their employers to do more to support mental health initiatives. According to a study conducted by Alberta Health Services, in 2007, one-third of trades people and labourers were directly affected by declining mental health, and a study done nine years later said construction workers were more likely to report heavy drinking and negative consequences relating to illicit drug use. In British Columbia, WorkSafeBC reports that mental health claims for illnesses diagnosed by a psychologist or psychiatrist were up 25% between 2017 and 2019. Those numbers are consistent with those reported in the construction industries in Ontario and the Maritimes. In 2017-2018, the Ontario government conducted a study that analyzed opioid deaths by profession. Of those who were employed at the time of their deaths due to opioids, 31% worked in construction. This is consistent with statistics that say 43% of construction workers have suffered from musculoskeletal www.sheetmetaljournal.com • Summer 2021
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