Dr. Sally Spencer-Thomas, noted psychologist, program trainer and speaker, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to talk about Suicide Prevention Week and Mental Health Awareness. Dr. Sally also talked about improving awareness in the building trades and improving your Local union’s ability to provide resources to those in need.
A psychologist by education, she dove into suicide prevention and mental health awareness following the death of her brother by suicide. It was the feeling that she could have helped her brother if there had been more education and less bias against men’s mental health discussions. Dr. Sally works daily to improve the narrative around men’s mental health. In her research, she found the best way to make the most impact was to seek out men at work, starting with the construction industry and first responders.
It wasn’t just about finding the industries where workers suffer the most occurrences of suicide and mental health issues, it was about providing answers. Dr. Sally described the challenges faced when looking to provide answers to workers who have experienced events in their lives they’ve never been able to get help for before. There is already a value in unions, as members look out for their Brothers and Sisters in the trades. With this intrinsic caring nature and membership who have faced their own battles, Dr. Sally said the unions have helped to push forward the efforts to improve mental health awareness.
How can your Local help with improving mental health awareness? Building formal peer support programs within your Local has proven to be the most impactful way to improve awareness. Among their peers, everyone is on equal footing and has faced similar experiences to provide an emotional support frame for their Brothers and Sisters in the Local. Dr. Sally and her program will help train Locals on the setup and recruitment of 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 https://www.sallyspencerthomas.com/.
Hear more from Dr. Sally by listening to the episode above.
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