Resource Highlight: MCAA’s Mental Health Awareness Resources

Construction is a demanding, high-stress profession with one of the highest suicide rates in the nation. Providing training and connecting people with treatment services can be hard. MCAA’s Mental Health Awareness resources simplify the process. These are just a few of MCAA’s educational resources that are free to MCAA members as a benefit of membership.

Available resources include:

• A Mental Health Awareness & Suicide Prevention Video highlighting an industry veteran’s success story. The video includes appearances by MCAA past president Robert Beck, the UA’s Jen Massey, industry expert Dr. Sally Spencer Thomas, and MCAA member Ricky Reams.

• A series of Mental Health Toolbox Talks that are easy to reference, quick to use, and a great way to start the conversation on mental health awareness and suicide prevention in construction at your company. English | Spanish

• An MCAA & Alliance Partners Suicide Prevention Webinar that explores the issue and shares solutions for pushing mental health stigma aside and helping one another.

• 988 Chips & Hard Hat Stickers highlighting the 988 National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Both items include the UA and MCAA logos.
  
  • MCAA members can order stickers here. To order chips, contact Lindsay Korpiniski at orderdesk@unionproud.com and reference the MCAA and UA 988 Chips. Both manufacturers employ union labor, and the chips and stickers carry the union label. Those with questions can contact Raffi Elchemmas (raffi@mcaa.org).
    
  • UA members can order right from the UA’s webstore. Those with questions can reach out to Nicole Jeup (nicolej@uanet.org).

• A Joint Statement from MCAA & UA on the importance of mental health awareness and suicide prevention.

You may also find the posters, flyers, and other resources available through these sites helpful:

• Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention (CIASP)
  • preventconstructionsuicide.com

• Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
  • osha.gov/workplace-stress

• 988 Hotline
  • 988lifeline.org

Many of the resources mentioned in this article are also available through 20 Years of Safety Excellence – September 2023: Mental Health Awareness.

If you have questions, please contact Raffi Elchemmas, MCAA’s Executive Director of Safety, Health, and Risk Management.