1 min read

Season 5, Episode 180

IUOE Local 825 MAP began with one man’s mental health journey

iuoe 825 (1)

 

Guest Name:


Chris Lalevee

Guest Website:


IUOE Local 825 

Guest Social Media:


Facebook

Twitter

IUOE Local 825 MAP

Twitter

Supportive Documents:


CSP Week

 

As Construction Suicide Prevention Week enters its second day, Chris Lalevee, Business Agent at the International Union of Operation Engineers Local 825 and coordinator of the IUOE Local 825 Member Assistance Program (MAP) joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss some of the events focused on suicide prevention in the trades. He also shared his story, and talked about the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline as well as other resources available to union members.

Lalevee was featured in the first webinar for Construction Suicide Prevention Week on Friday, Sept. 6. The webinar, Navigating the Opioid Crisis: A Workplace Perspective, looked at how opioid drugs contribute to the high rate of suicide in the construction industry. Lalevee also talked about the link between the construction industry and prescription drug misuse.

A survivor of three suicide attempts, Lalevee shared his struggles with mental health. He talked about the stress and anxiety his work with Local 825 caused and why he turned to alcohol as his drug of choice. After beginning the path to recovery, he talked about the difficulty turning his life around and why that led him to start the MAP at Local 825.

Since the inception of the IUOE Local 825 MAP, over 150 members have been assisted through the peer-support program. Lalevee talked about the difference between having a peer help someone during a crisis and a counselor listening to someone's struggles. He also discussed the resources available to members beyond the MAP program, including the National 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. The 24/7 hotline, which is celebrating its second anniversary this year, is available to anyone in crisis or living with thoughts of suicide by calling or texting 988. 

Please listen to the show above to hear more about Lalevee's work providing resources to union members struggling with mental health.


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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