By Cheryl Jahn

ICBA talks mental health

Mar 21, 2024 | 3:14 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – “The number one series of drugs that are prescribed by doctors are drugs for depression, anxiety, ADHD. Every single plan.”

That’s the president of the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association, Chris Gardner, talking about the state of the construction industry.

“We are going through a very significant crisis in mental health as it relates to construction. It’s not just construction. It’s across our entire economy. We saw that coming out of COVID. So what we said is, we’ve got to do we’ve got to take a different approach. So at ICBA, we developed a mental health program that is designed specifically for construction professionals.”

But the challenge is Gardner says, the industry is predominantly male-oriented and men are not renowned for talking about their emotions.

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“Right now we have 10,000 people in British Columbia enrolled in that program. So we’re happy about the impact we’re starting to have. Now what we see is more people, and not only in construction but across our economy, being more willing to talk about challenges and struggles with mental health. And so now the challenge is making sure they have timely access to psychologists and counselors to help them work through these challenges.”

He says there has been progress getting workers to realize they have something they need to address. But more work needs to be done.