Morton speaks out about mental health in the trades at NTWC

GREEN BAY – Senior Risk Control Consultant at the Marsh McLennan Agency and Board President of Wisconsin Construction Wellness Community, Bruce Morton, gave a speech at Northeastern Wisconsin Technical College on March 5 about the troubling rate of suicide in the trades industry.

During his Men’s Mental Health: Tools in Tough Times talk, he gave NWTC students the tools to recognize burnout and stress along with why mental health in construction and other trades looks different compared to other professions.

Morton worked in construction himself and understands the mental health struggles that can emerge.

“I do it because I’ve suffered through it myself, even when I was training, I didn’t take care of myself,” Morton said. “So I want people to know that it’s ok to [struggle], and you can come out a better person, a better version of you.”
Morton has been working towards this for over five years, particularly in his nonprofit organization, Wisconsin Construction Wellness Community, and has helped train thousands of people in recognizing the signs of suicide and how to get necessary mental health resources.

Their mission stated on the WCWC website is “We are a group of Wisconsin construction contractors that have come together to train each other on internal mental health processes, discover third-party resources available and work to implement these resources into the industry on a macro and micro level.”

Started in 2022, the nonprofit provides training courses and resources that aren’t affiliated with only one group which lets people get more comfortable using them.

Podcasts, articles, videos and pdf versions of talks about mental health and suicide prevention are just some of the resources offered through the WCWC website.

Question Persuade Refer, a specific and important training Morton discussed, is a suicide prevention training program designed to teach people how to recognize the warning signs of suicide, intervene in emergency situations and direct people to help.

When asked why he decided to help others, Morton replied, “When we saw the data and how bad it was in construction. It was like, someone has to step up and do something. I have board members and also associates, it’s not just me doing this.”

He continued, “There’s 15 suicides a day, and when a construction worker tries to take his life, they’re successful 53.3% of the time.”

This distressing number gave Morton, and others, the push to benefit the trades industry.

“We’ve partnered with a bunch of associates as well to put stuff in their newsletters and have classes,” Morton said.

Getting involved in helping yourself and others is something he emphasized, “I think it’s important for them personally, for their families, for their coworkers. I think they live a better life by getting the help, even though it’s hard. It was difficult for me to do that and go to therapy and [take] medications, but ultimately, we want them to have a happy life.”

Trainings, both local and online, community events, vendors and technical meetings are all ways that Morton said people can get involved and get help.

Morton concluded, “I think it’s important just for all of us to have a stable lifestyle, because we’re not ourselves when we’re feeling sick or when we have physical pain. Same with mental pain, it can be even more debilitating. You can still go to work if your shoulder hurts, but if you’re having a panic attack, you’re probably not going to work that day.”

For more information visit https://www.wisconsinwell.org/