Developed in partnership with Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations and funded by the New York Building Congress Foundation and the Pharmaceutical Industry's Labor-Management Association (PILMA), the program trains vetted union members as certified peer supporters, deployed directly to job sites — equipped to identify workers in crisis and connect them immediately to professional help. What makes the program unique, LaBarbera said, is that it is vertically integrated across all trades, meaning a peer supporter from any craft can assist any worker on the job site regardless of union affiliation. The first cohort of 20 peer supporters is being deployed to job sites in the coming weeks.

According to CDC and OSHA data cited by LaBarbera, approximately 1,000 construction workers die from job-related fatalities each year, but 5,000 construction workers die by suicide each year, making suicide five times more deadly in the industry than on-the-job accidents. LaBarbera described this as a genuine epidemic that demands an organized response during Mental Health Awareness Month and beyond.
The peer support network is vertically integrated across all building trades, meaning trained peer supporters — identified on job sites by distinctive hard-hat stickers and PPE insignia — are certified to assist any worker in crisis, regardless of trade affiliation. Their training was developed by Cornell University and is funded by outside industry sources at no cost to the union.
LaBarbera is seeking annual state grant funding from New York to sustain the program long-term and has already secured $200,000 in seed money from the pharmaceutical industry's labor-management association to hire a full-time clinician who will oversee the program, ensure HIPAA compliance and manage documentation. The plan is to test the program in New York City before expanding the model to councils statewide.

An Epidemic Hidden in Plain Sight

May is Mental Health Awareness Month — and few industries need that conversation more urgently than construction. Gary LaBarbera has spent his career representing the men and women who build New York City. As president of both the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York — representing 100,000 workers across 15 national and international unions — and the New York State Building and Construction Trades Council, he has seen what this work does to people over time. The physical toll is visible. The psychological toll has been harder to address — until now.

The numbers that set LaBarbera in motion are stark. According to CDC and OSHA data, roughly 1,000 construction workers die each year from job-related injuries and accidents. In that same period, approximately 5,000 construction workers died by suicide. The industry's suicide rate is roughly five times its fatality rate. LaBarbera called it an epidemic — one with identifiable causes, a willing industry coalition and now a structured response.

Why Construction Workers Are at Elevated Risk

The factors driving elevated suicide rates in the trades are interconnected and well-documented. The work is physically dangerous and relentlessly demanding, and the constant pressure to stay on schedule and on budget creates a stressful environment unlike that in most workplaces. Physical injuries are common, and workers who get hurt are frequently prescribed pain management medications that can lead to dependency. Substance misuse, in turn, is a significant contributing factor to suicide risk. Add to that the cultural stigma around mental health in a traditionally stoic industry, and the result is a workforce that suffers in silence at rates the rest of the country rarely sees.

LaBarbera stressed that the union's role does not end at the bargaining table. It extends to every aspect of a member's life, including their mental health and their will to keep living. Mental Health Awareness Month, he said, is an opportunity to amplify that message — but the work has to happen year-round.

Building the Program: Cornell, the Building Congress Foundation and Industry Funding

About 18 months ago, LaBarbera began meeting with Member Assistance Program directors across New York City's building trades — the credentialed professionals within the union structure who handle substance misuse and mental health referrals — to design a peer support framework. Recognizing the complexity of the challenge, they recommended partnering with a higher education institution to develop a rigorous curriculum and clinical oversight.

LaBarbera, an alumnus of Cornell University's School of Labor Relations, reached out to Cornell. Two key collaborators emerged: Jeff Grabelski, a former IBEW Local 3 electrician turned educator, and Arianna Schindle, a clinician specializing in suicide prevention. LaBarbera described the pairing as almost providential. Together with the union's MAP directors, they built the program from the ground up over months of intensive meetings.

The New York Building Congress Foundation — a more than century-old industry organization representing labor, developers, architects, engineers and contractors, of which LaBarbera serves as co-chair — underwrote the full $100,000 cost of curriculum development. PILMA, which has a strong relationship with the United Association and builds primarily in union facilities, stepped in to fund the $200,000 in seed money needed to hire a full-time clinician before state grant funding comes through. Contractors represented by the Building Trades Employers Association agreed to pay workers' wages for the time spent in training. At a presentation to that association, LaBarbera said the ask was met with a round of applause.

How the Program Works

The peer support network operates on two training tiers. The first is a two-hour suicide awareness course called “It's Not Weak to Speak.” It is open to members of any trade and designed to be embedded in existing union and apprenticeship training. The second tier is a seven-hour training program for those who will serve as certified peer supporters in the field.

Peer supporters are not clinicians. They are not trained to provide clinical advice or conduct assessments. Their role is to identify workers showing signs of crisis, understand the different stages of crisis, respond appropriately and immediately connect the worker to the right resource — their MAP director, a clinician or emergency services.

Peer supporters will be visually identifiable on job sites through distinctive hard hat stickers and PPE insignia. Certifications will be issued jointly by Cornell University and the Building Trades Council. A full-time clinician will oversee the program, manage documentation and ensure all interactions are covered under HIPAA. An app is being developed to allow peer supporters to connect workers in seconds and track program outcomes over time.

Vertically Integrated — and Built on Solidarity

What distinguishes this program from the mental health initiatives many individual international unions already operate is its vertical integration. A peer supporter from any trade — a carpenter, an electrician, a laborer, a plumber — is trained and certified to assist any worker on the job site, regardless of trade affiliation. Training sessions will be held at various union training centers across New York City and will be open to members of every trade, not just the one that hosts the session.

LaBarbera said that structure helps build solidarity across the trades in the most direct way possible — by making every certified peer supporter responsible for every worker around them, not just those in their own craft.

The first cohort of 20 peer supporters is being deployed to job sites in the coming weeks. LaBarbera expects multiple additional cohorts to be trained over the next four to six months, with a long-term goal of reaching 1 percent of New York City's building trades membership — roughly 1,000 trained peer supporters — as the seed population for what he hopes will eventually be a statewide model available to every building trades council in New York.

The Stories Behind the Program

LaBarbera grounded the program's purpose in real stories shared with him by members who volunteered to be involved. A worker on a major New York City construction project — struggling with addiction, his family falling apart — walked to the edge of a building on the job site. A fellow tradesman felt something was wrong, grabbed him by the shoulder, pulled him back and sat with him until a Member Assistance Program (MAP) director was on the phone and help was secured. That co-worker told him, “When you get out of rehab, I will be the first face you see.”

That moment is exactly what a peer supporter does, LaBarbera said. Not a clinical intervention. A human one. A Brother or Sister in the trades saying, “I see you, I'm here, and you are not alone.”

As Mental Health Awareness Month continues, LaBarbera's message to every construction worker who is struggling is the same as the program's name: It is not weak to speak. Help is there. Ask for it.

More information on the New York City Building and Construction Trades Council is available at nycbuildingtrades.org. If you or someone you know is in crisis, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available by calling or texting 988.

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