Rich Jones, Co-founder and Chief Clinical Officer of Youturn Health, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss how his organiziation helps workers address substance misuse and mental health concerns, especially withing the construction industry. He also discussed his personal experience with substance misuse and how he’s turned that experience into knowledge to get people the help they need.
As a person in long-term recovery from two different addiction issues, Jones’ first-hand experience pushed him into the therapy and mental health advocacy industry. To take his experience and use it to help more people, is why Jones co-founded Youturn Health. Youturn Health is a virtual support program that bridges the gap between inaction and seeking treatment by making support accessible to employees grappling with stress, anxiety, depression or suicidal ideation.
Jones discussed the ways that Youturn Health is working to inform and educate people on the risks and warning signs that someone might be dealing with substance misuse or mental health problems. Over 500 videos are available to people seeking more information on different unseen illnesses. Jones highlighted the importance of providing these instructional videos and how Youturn uses these videos in partnership with a coaching model using Peer Support Specialists to provide the assistance people need.
In the construction industry, safety is a focus, and while safety on the job is a priority a person’s safety on the inside has been overlooked for too long. Jones explained the troubling numbers relating to mental health and suicide in the trades. Together, with the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers, Youturn has created the Insulators Member Assistance Program (IMAP). Jones explained IMAP, how members can access the tools and shared a success story from the program.
If you are a member of the Insulators Union and would like more information, resources are available at your Local Union Hall and Apprenticeship office.
To hear more about the work that Youturn does to help individuals and tradespeople with mental health and substance misuse problems, listen to the show 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.
