Lowering the suicide rate in the construction industry with the CIASP

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America's Work Force Union Podcast AWF CIASP Mental Health

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Sonya Bohmann

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Sonya Bohmann, Executive Director of the Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention (CIASP), discussed suicide awareness and removing the stigma surrounding mental health conversations as part of the America’s Work Force Union Podcast coverage of Construction Suicide Prevention Week.

The Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention was founded in 2018 to address the Center for Disease Control (CDC) study ranking construction as the top industry for deaths by suicide. Their mission is to raise awareness about suicide prevention and provide resources and tools to create a zero-suicide sector by uniting and supporting the construction industry.

Coming from the construction industry, specifically commercial rebuild and reconstruction, Bohmann has seen firsthand the mental health hazards that can impact construction workers. Unfortunately, the industry is experiencing death by suicide nearly five times more often than the general public, Bohmann said.

As Suicide Prevention Month continues, Bohmann discussed what the CIASP has done to try and reverse the trend of increasing deaths by suicide in the construction industry. So far this year, Bohmann said the organization has presented to over 10,000 workers about mental health and suicide prevention tools and statistics. She discussed the seminars, webinars, other events, and the resources shared with construction workers.

Despite the hard work by CIASP and unions, there hasn't been enough improvement, Bohmann said. She discussed how contractors, unions and individuals can use toolbox kits from the CIASP website to discuss warning signs for someone in crisis. Bohmann believes the message is starting to resonate with members, but there is still more work to be done.

If you or someone you know is going through crisis, please call the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or text 988 for help.

Listen to the show above to hear more about the ways CIASP is addressing suicide rates in the construction industry.

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.

Lowering the suicide rate in the construction industry with the CIASP

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