Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Wellness Repository for the Asphalt Industry
If you’re in crisis, please call the national suicide and crisis lifeline at 988 or text “hello” to 741741. Skilled, trained counselors are available 24/7 to help you or a colleague.
The Mental Health & Wellness and Suicide Prevention Podcast
This podcast series is sponsored by:
Episode 1
Break the Silence | Vince Hafeli Shares Advice for Your First Mental Health Conversation
Asphalt Pro Magazine Editor & Host: Sandy Lender
Guest:
Dr. Vince Hafeli, D.B.A.,
Episode 2
Empower Your Team | Vince Hafeli talks tips for mental health first aid training
Asphalt Pro Magazine Editor & Host: Sandy Lender
Guest:
Dr. Vince Hafeli, D.B.A.,
Episode 3
Eliminate the Stigma | Vince Hafeli talks about the role of the provider-protector mindset in mental health
Asphalt Pro Magazine Editor & Host: Sandy Lender
Guest:
Dr. Vince Hafeli, D.B.A.,
Episode 4
Reduce Musculoskeletal Injury, Reduce Opioid Addiction | Cal Byers shares injury prevention strategies
Asphalt Pro Magazine Editor & Host: Sandy Lender
Guest:
Cal Beyer, CWP, Holmes Murphy & Associates
Episode 5
Build a Caring Culture | Cal Byers shares strategies to approach employee substance abuse with care
Asphalt Pro Magazine Editor & Host: Sandy Lender
Guest:
Cal Beyer, CWP, Holmes Murphy & Associates
Episode 6
From Awareness to Action | Cal Byers offers practical steps to create a supportive workplace culture
Asphalt Pro Magazine Editor & Host: Sandy Lender
Guest:
Cal Beyer, CWP, Holmes Murphy & Associates
We Thank You
The staff at AsphaltPro Magazine would like to thank everyone who took the time during 2023 and 2024 to read and consider the importance of the Suicide in Construction Awareness Proclamation from Ajax Paving's Vince Hafeli, PhD. Hafeli took the lead to initiate a national campaign promoting awareness of the prevalence of suicide, mental health illness and substance use disorder (SUD) in the construction industry, and the opportunity to sign the proclamation has now passed.
AsphaltPro Magazine is honored to have assisted in furthering the message to help others in our community. If you find yourself in need of resources, please reach out to the entities listed on this page and review the articles listed in the library below. Visit CIASP listed at right and join the community of safety-minded professionals who work to help those who may be struggling among us.
You can also fill out a simple online form to sign your name to the Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention (CIASP) pledge: STAND.
For Safety Directors/HR Managers
Here are some places to find Employee Assistance Program (EAP) materials and continuing education/training. This list will grow as in-progress courses come online; click on the logo below to access the site. You may want to bookmark this page and don't forget to reach out to your insurance provider to see what materials they can provide.
Do you have another great resource you’d like to list here?
Send the information to Sandy.
The Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention (CIASP) has prepared a host of materials for implementing a suicide-prevention program in the workplace, including a six-part video series.
The Needs Analysis & Integration Checklist from CIASP helps you evaluate where your safety culture is on its journey to an effective mental health wellness program and helps you define what next steps you need to take to achieve goals you set for a healthy, productive, safe work environment. This document will help you determine how prepared you, and your employees, are to handle a mental health or suicide crisis. Download this pdf by clicking on the image.
The Construction Industry Blueprint: Suicide Prevention in the Workplace can help HR managers and safety directors learn how to build protective factors, identify employees who are struggling, link troubled employees to appropriate care, and address mental health crises with compassion and empowerment.
Question, Persuade, Refer suicide prevention training for individuals is offered by the QPR Institute either online or in-person.
LivingWorks offers suicide prevention training for individuals or groups with or without continuing education credits and with certification of course completion. Training can be completed online.
In addition to these four resources, human resources managers throughout North America can find current lists of mental health care professionals in their regions when insurance companies update their lists of qualified providers. While some insurance companies access sites like Psychology Today or Grow Therapy, the insurance companies more regularly filter for updates such as licensing/certification changes, location and billing changes, and so on. Here are insurance companies that include their approved providers online for members and HR directors to access.
In the United States
Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) https://www.bcbs.com/
The provider finder/mental health search link is https://provider.bcbs.com/ and it includes a Public Therapist Directory (via Psychology Today) that lists therapists who accept various BCBS plans in the United States at this link: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists?category=bluecross-and-blueshield
UnitedHealthcare (UHC) https://www.uhc.com/
The provider search is a member portal search that requires a member login but an alternative outside tool is the Zocdoc UnitedHealthcare filter at this link: https://www.zocdoc.com/therapist-counselors/unitedhealthcare-323m
Cigna Healthcare https://www.cigna.com/
The provider search portal offers a general in-network provider lookup at https://www.cigna.com/health-care-providers/
An alternative outside tool, once again, is the Zocdoc filter for therapists and psychiatrists that accept Cigna Healthcare at these links: https://www.zocdoc.com/therapist-counselors/cigna-307m and https://www.zocdoc.com/psychiatrists/cigna-307m
Aetna (by CVS Health) https://www.aetna.com/ and Humana https://www.humana.com/ and Kaiser Permanente https://healthy.kaiserpermanente.org/ require members to log in to portals to search providers.
In Canada
Sun Life https://www.sunlife.ca/ has a provider search tool at https://www.sunlife.ca/en/health/provider-search/
Canada Life https://www.canadalife.com/ has a provider listing at https://www.canadalife.com/insurance/workplace-benefits/eclaims-provider-listing.html
Other Canadian insurance providers, like Pacific Blue Cross https://www.pac.bluecross.ca/, Manulife Canada https://www.manulife.ca/, and Desjardins Financial Security https://desjardinslifeinsurance.com/ offer provider lookup once a user has logged into a member portal.
Events
September is Suicide Prevention Month, but the asphalt industry is actively building awareness, raising funds, and working together to end the stigma around mental health wellness and suicide prevention discussions all year long.
Do you have an event to add to our list?
Send the information to Sandy.
Events
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Suicide Prevention Month
September is Suicide Prevention month.
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SPIN—Taking Action, Saving Lives Conference – September 2026 (date TBA)
SPIN—Taking Action, Saving Lives Conference, organized by Suicide Prevention of the Inland Northwest (with Lewis-Clark State College partners). This is a professional continuing education conference with suicide prevention content. Visit […]
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Suicide Prevention Summit
8:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. The annual Suicide Prevention Summit with the La Crosse Area Suicide Prevention Initiative. Visit https://www.uwlax.edu/ex/suicide-prevention/ for information and registration. Location: UW-La Crosse, Wisconsin
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2026 Suicide Prevention Color Walk/Run
9 a.m. Mountain. 2026 Suicide Prevention Color Walk/Run. This 5K and 2K walk/run with color-throwing festivities is held to raise awareness and community support for suicide prevention and mental wellness. […]
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AGC Mental Health & Suicide Prevention Forum
From 2 to 4 p.m. Eastern, free, virtual AGC Mental Health & Suicide Prevention Forum. This forum meets quarterly with the goal of providing a safe space where construction industry stakeholders can gather to share […]
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International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day
International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day is recognized Nov. 21 and is sponsored by The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Get more information at https://afsp.org/international-survivors-of-suicide-loss-day/
Library
AsphaltPro Magazine and other entities have sounded the alarm concerning the epidemic of suicide in the construction industry. We have offered tips and information to assist companies in developing/nurturing a caring culture and saving lives. As more articles are shared throughout the industry, we’ll include them in this library. Here’s a growing list.
April 24, 2023
The First Step is the Most Difficult When Addressing Mental Health
By Asphalt Pro Staff
March/April 2023, AsphaltPro
Extrapolate Industry Numbers to Implement Suicide Prevention Programs
By Asphalt Pro Staff
February 2023, AP
CPWR Workshop in DC Offers Four Topic Area Work Groups for Suicide Prevention
By Sandy Lender
June 2022, AP
Asphalt Industry Prepares to Stem the Tide of Construction Industry Suicide
By Vince Hafeli and Sandy Lender
July 2021, ENR
Safety Advocates See Strength in Numbers to Combat Suicide and Substance Misuse
By Engineering News-Record
September 2020, AP
Candid Safety Promotes Mental Health and Prevents Suicide
By Asphalt Pavement Association of Oregon
June 2020, CSDZ
The Invisible Construction Crisis: Why Focus on Construction Workforce Risk?
By Cal Beyer
June 2020, CSDZ
The Invisible Construction Crisis: Strategies to Address Mental Wellbeing
By Cal Beyer
March 2017, AP
Build Protective Factors Against Mental Health Crises, Suicide Risk
By Sally Spencer-Thomas
March 2017, AP
Construction Safety’s Next Frontier: Suicide Prevention
By Cal Beyer
Additional Resources
Michael Bellaman of Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) told CONEXPO/CON-AGG 365 that: “Many are unaware that in construction, you are five times more likely to lose a worker to death by suicide than from a safety-related jobsite incident.” The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) shows construction has the highest suicide rate across all industries at 53.2 per 100,000 workers. The good news is our industry is building awareness, reducing the stigma around discussions of mental health, and preventing suicides. Groups already have suicide prevention and mental health wellness working groups compiling resources, documents, courses and more to assist safety directors and company management in nurturing a caring culture.
- One association that is specifically focused on lowering the construction workforce’s rate of suicide is the Construction Financial Management Association’s “Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention.” https://www.cfma.org/suicideprevention
- A resource with a weekly newsletter of insights and updates, is the Suicide Prevention Resource Center. The website gives visitors the option to drill down to “workplaces” for specific assistance. https://www.sprc.org/.
- Another “overarching” resource that takes a less reverent, but still straight-talk, look at mental health wellness for men specifically, is https://www.mantherapy.org/.
- The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention is another “overarching” resource, with a great deal of focus on mental health effects of COVID-19, but is still a relevant source for HR and safety directors. https://theactionalliance.org/
- The team at Holmes Murphy (https://www.holmesmurphy.com/category/construction/) and CSDZ have resources beyond insurance for HR managers, safety directors and more.
- For information and assistance with programs concerning substance abuse, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) has a host of resources and information. Visit https://www.samhsa.gov/
Do you have another great resource you’d like to list here?
Send the information to Sandy.
