Diseases of Despair in the Construction Community

This training is designed to educate listeners by shining a light on how the Diseases of Despair disproportionately affect the Vermont Construction community. More specifically, the goal is to provide learners with insight into how extreme the issues of Overdose and Suicide are to the construction industry, by highlighting statistically and demographically the disparities between this group and other industries. We will discuss how Diseases of Despair trends have grown over the last few years, and will identify reasons why the construction community has been hit so hard. Finally, we will discuss the barriers to recognition and treatment within this group, and will identify actions that leaders of all levels (and more generally, all people) can take to help reduce the stigma surrounding these topics and reduce the overall number of people affected by the Diseases of Despair.

• Identify the Diseases of Despair.
• Identify risk factors contributing to the construction industry’s disproportionate overdose rate.
• Identify risk factors contributing to the construction industry’s disproportionate suicide rate.
• Identify ways to reduce stigma within your own communities.
• Identify available overdose prevention and suicide prevention resources.

Reid Wobby has over 15 years of combined experience in the US Army, Cannabis, Construction, Mining, and General Industries. He specializes in federal workplace guidelines regarding alcohol, cannabis and drug related issues, workplace safety and compliance, and employee wellness with a focus on suicide prevention and overdose prevention. He has extensive knowledge in safety management within the OSHA, MSHA, and DOT realms. He has worked with multiple local and regional companies, providing on-site and administrative consultation to ensure their workforce is safe and their policies are compliant. Over the last 2 years, Reid has focused on combatting the Diseases of Despair in the Vermont Construction Industry. During that time, he founded a partnership between VTHC, the Associated General Contractors of Vermont, and the Vermont Naloxone Distribution Program (part of the Vermont Department of Health), called the Employee Wellness Partnership. This cooperative effort focuses on reducing the high rate of suicide and overdose in the construction industry by providing training and resources to help reduce stigma within this community. Since the founding of the partnership, he has overseen the distribution of more than 12,000 doses of Narcan across the state, and more than 30 training courses on recognizing the Diseases of Despair, overdose prevention and suicide prevention.

All interested in learning more about suicide prevention in the Construction community.

Event Venue

Online