1 min read

Season 4, Episode 258

Best of 2023: Dr. Sally talks about improving mental health narratives

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Guest Name:


Dr. Sally Spencer-Thomas

Guest Website:


sallyspencerthomas.com 

Guest Social Media:


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Supportive Documents:


As part of the America’s Work Force Union Podcast’s “Best of 2023” coverage, we highlight Dr. Sally Spencer-Thomas, noted psychologist, program trainer and speaker, who joined the show on Sept. 11 as part of Suicide Prevention Week and Mental Health Awareness Month. Dr. Sally spoke about improving mental health awareness in the building trades and improving a Local Union’s ability to provide resources to those in need. 

A psychologist, Dr. Sally moved into the field of suicide prevention and mental health awareness after her brother took his life. She was motivated to help others through a feeling that she could have helped her brother if there was more education and less bias against men’s mental health. Dr. Sally works daily to improve the narrative around men’s mental health. In her research, she found that the best way to make the most impact was to seek out men at work, starting with the construction industry and first responders.

Her focus was not limited to finding the industries where workers suffer the most occurrences of suicide and mental health issues, it was about providing answers to help those in need. Dr. Sally described the challenges faced when looking to provide answers to workers who experienced traumatic events in their lives and have been unable to get help in the past. There is already value in unions, as members look out for their Brothers and Sisters in the trades, and they can be more valuable as unions improve their efforts in mental health awareness.

She explained how Local Unions can help improve mental health awareness. One way is to build formal peer support programs, which have proven to be the most impactful way to improve awareness. Everyone is on equal footing among their peers and shared experiences can provide an emotional support frame for the Brothers and Sisters of the Local. Dr. Sally and her program will train Local leaders to establish and recruit members to ensure the peer programs work to the best of their ability. To learn more about the work being done by Dr. Sally, please visit sallyspencerthomas.com/

Hear more from Dr. Sally by listening to the episode above.


America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.

America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes-IBT, Boyd Watterson, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, Mechanical Insulators Labor Management Cooperative Trust, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, Melwood, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of North America, The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

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