Stepping up and asking the hard questions

By Emma Peterson.

Industry experts discuss the importance of reducing mental health stigma and encouraging difficult but necessary conversations.

In the roofing industry, safety is a common topic of conversation. But what is often missed in those conversations is that safety is not just about fall protection and PPE; it’s also about taking care of the mental health of your team. To learn more about how we can all make mental health and supporting our teammates a priority, Heidi J. Ellsworth hosted a panel of industry leaders for an episode of the Roofing Road Trips® podcast.

Meet the panel

There were three different roofing experts on the panel. One was Joel Stanley, who is the founder of Anchor Products, a company known for their rooftop equipment manufacturing. In addition to producing high-quality products for roofing manufactures and contractors, Joel and the Anchor team are part of the Single Ply Roofing Industry (SPRI) association.

The next member of the panel is also a member of SPRI. Lynsey is the CEO of Tyelus, a group of “strategic process architects,” and has been involved with SPRI for over a decade. And last but not least, rounding out our panel was McKay Daniels, the CEO of the National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA).

Keeping mental health top of conversation

So, how do we make mental health a priority? Organizations like NRCA and SPRI are leading the way. How so? In NRCA’s case, McKay and his team have made mental health resources and support more accessible for contractors through their BeToughEnough.org microsite. McKay shared some background into the development of that resource, saying, “This issue came up for NRCA in earnest about three years ago now. We were reading the statistics and then in the course of about 60 days I talked to three different contractors who had lost a teammate to suicide in their shop... After that we knew it needed be a priority.”

As for SPRI, Joel and Lynsey are at the forefront of their mental health operations as the co-chairs of their new mental health task force. This task force aims to lower suicide rates by raising awareness of mental health and its relation to crew safety. Joel explained, “Mental health is something that impacts us all, no matter your physical state, economic state or anything else. And we've seen a friend or a family member or even ourselves struggle. And you never want to get that phone call.” He went on, “Our work at SPRI is really centered on the idea that we can't rely on somebody else to save our friend, we need to be brave enough to step up and be that person.” Lynsey added, “It’s not easy being that person, it’s going to feel uncomfortable and even unnatural... But it’s better to feel that brief discomfort than if you didn't ask the question and something happened.”

Listen to the whole episode or Watch the recording to learn more about how you can step up and support your teammates mental health and safety.