Among the 16 building trades in the St. Louis area, a network is forming to focus on the mental health of workers.
The increasingly critical effort aims to draw out a group with a reputation for being tough as nails — and tight-lipped about personal problems.
The motivation to join forces can be found in statistics. Construction workers have the second-highest suicide rate of any industry, behind mining. Substance abuse is twice as common as it is among the general U.S. population, and overdose deaths occur 18 times more often than jobsite fatalities. Almost everyone with experience in the industry has lost a friend or co-worker.