Twin Cities union starts program to combat suicide, drug addiction among construction workers

A Twin Cities painters union is taking on mental health with a program new to Minnesota that provides onsite counseling and intervention training for construction workers.

The goal is to tackle the high rates of suicide and substance abuse in the construction industry head on and to make it much easier to access help without any stigma, organizers said.

The "FTIUM Care Team" program was launched this month by the 3,500-member International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 82 (DC 82) and the Finishing Trades Institute of the Upper Midwest (FTIUM), both in Little Canada.

The extra help is "absolutely 100% needed," said Mike Vitt, a union building-glass installer and an Air Force veteran who served after 9/11 in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He suffers from PTSD and was delighted by what he saw while taking one of the Care Team's new classes that hopes to change the macho culture in construction, which organizers say contributes to the high suicide rates.

"I'm glad this is happening," Vitt said. "I have had suicidal ideation since the age of 10 and had PTSD from both my childhood and the military. So I get the fact that there are people in the industry who have demons and issues and who need help but who are too afraid to speak out."

Under the new program, which costs around $200,000 a year, Minnesota painters, drywall finishers, glassworkers, glaziers and other tradespeople will gain access to life-saving mental health services, substance use counseling, intervention training and health consultations right at the training school and union hall.

In addition to classes, two mental health counselors will be onsite full time at the training school the two trade groups share in Little Canada. A new four-hour training course called Changing the Culture of Construction is open to all union members after work hours and required for apprentices.

The institute also ordered about 100 Narcan nasal spray dispensers so each classroom and each of the school's 45 workers have them handy in case of an emergency both on and offsite.

FTIUM Academic Education Director John Burcaw said the combined approach should save lives, improve mental health and is supported by Minnesota's entire contractor community.

New classes stress ways to ditch macho stereotypes; develop empathy; recognize co-workers in crisis; access hotlines and direct colleagues toward services offered by the FTIUM Care Team.

"We are going to change the culture," Burcaw said. "Some of our workers are starting to wake up to our industry's historical toxic masculinity and how it hurts them and their peers."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found suicide rates among construction workers were the second highest of any industry, followed those in the mining/oil and gas extraction fields.

Some 53 of every 100,000 construction workers take their own lives on average each year, the CDC reported. In Minnesota, there were 758 deaths by suicide in 2020, ranking the state the 13th out of 50 for suicides.

A spike in suicides among beleaguered rural farmers has received attention in recent years and unleashed innovative mental health services for them. The data and a similar focus on construction workers has been lacking — until now.

Officials at TEAM Wellness at Work, which provides employee assistance services for the painters union, think suicides are underreported in the industry.

Since the pandemic began, TEAM has responded to and provided grief counseling to members after 32 tradesmen took their lives in Minnesota. And "that is just what we have responded to," said TEAM Medical Director and CEO Jennifer Stanek. Other employee assistance providers also responded to suicides.

"The statistics are quite alarming [so] ... our goal is to encourage workers to ask for help when they need it and stop the stigma around mental health that pervades the construction industry," she said.

Stanek noted that male construction workers have said they fear being teased or bullied by peers if they seek help. "This deep-rooted stigma surrounding mental health has proven to be deadly, in Minnesota and nationally," she said.

Several industry factors exacerbate high rates of stress and depression including chronic pain, sleep disruptions caused by overnight shifts, tight deadlines, financial stress due to the seasonal work, and needing to be seen as rugged by peers, according to the Center for Workplace Mental Health and the American Psychiatric Association.

Such studies are prompting wider action, Stanek said.

The North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters will also launch a program similar to FTIUM's in the fall in St. Paul. That union has 12,000 members in Minnesota and 27,000 across the Midwest.

The new training and resources may help other workers get the help they need. After all, "the numbers of tradesmen who commit suicide speak for themselves. And how many people have substance abuse problems?" said Vitt, the veteran taking advantage of the program at the painters union. "They need to have that support system and not be afraid to talk about it."

Minnesotans and others struggling with thoughts of suicide or other mental health crises can receive immediate help from the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988.