April 23, 2026

Mental Health Month is 31 Days. Your People Need You for 365 Days.

Breaking Cycles Construction Safety Employee Management Health Care Human Resources Risk Management Safety & Wellness Suicide Prevention Work-Life Balance

By Zach Harris, Employee Wellness Consultant, HealthSource Solutions

Construction has made real progress on mental health over the past several years. Jobsites are equipped with toolbox talks, EAP resources, and 988 signage. More companies are investing in training and resources while embedding wellbeing into their safety plans. That progress is real, and it matters.

Here is the honest question every construction leader needs to consider: If someone on your crew was struggling right now, would they come to you for help?

If you hesitated on that answer, this article is for you.

Awareness is Not the Same as Solving the Problem

Every day on job sites, there are potential gaps between general mental health awareness and informed changes. Awareness is just noise without the infrastructure to handle the problem.

A large general contractor in the Midwest began a mental health screening initiative across targeted project sites in 2025. The anonymous online mental health screening tool allowed its employees and subcontractors to assess their risk levels for various conditions. Based on the results, the participants received applicable online resources.

Ten months and nearly 500 screenings later, they discovered that 74% of the workers who completed their mental health screening were native Spanish speakers. This is not just a demographic data point. It is a signal that entire segments of the workforce may be quietly carrying mental health burdens while simultaneously dealing with cultural stigma, language barriers, and a lack of targeted resources. This was a wake-up call to find better ways to support all workers across their project sites.

This example reminds me of the Maya Angelou quote, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better.”

As an industry, we know better, and it’s time to do better. It is time to shift efforts from performance to solving real issues.

The Leader in the Mirror

Mental health programs in construction almost always sit below the org chart. Leaders are responsible for building resources for their workforce. Leaders are the bridge that helps their crews feel safe.

But who is the bridge for the leaders?

A VP looked in the mirror and decided he needed to take his health seriously. He was constantly traveling between strategic project sites, working long hours, eating meals on the go, and operating on too little sleep. Does this sound familiar for your leadership teams?

This VP reached out to me for support, not because he was in crisis, but because he recognized that his way of living was unsustainable. He made some real changes like better sleep habits, intentional nutrition, and exercising again.

Then, a few months later, his projects had major challenges. The schedule shifted, the travel picked up again, and the old habits came back. Not because he did not care, but because nothing structurally changed in the workplace. The will was there. The system was not.

That story is not a failure. It is a prevalent story in construction leadership, and we almost never tell it out loud. The same leaders who are building mental health cultures on their job sites are often overextended and depleted themselves.

There is a Chinese proverb that says, “It’s cold at the top of the mountain.” Every leader has felt that at some point throughout their career. Many leaders struggle with their own personal health and well-being because they lack a trusted person to confide in. The supportive workplace structures needed to sustain change are also lacking.

If your company’s wellbeing strategy does not include the people at the top, it has a gap. And the leaders who are willing to say “I struggled with this too” are the ones who change site culture. Not because vulnerability is trendy, but because workers can tell the difference between a poster and a person.

Building Something That Lasts

The difference between a one-time mental health initiative and building a mental health culture is what happens when the Mental Health Month banner comes down. This is what durable looks like in practice when nobody is watching and the project gets hard.

Make it someone’s job. Every initiative that survives does so because one named person owns it. They are trained, known by the crew, and empowered to act. Not a committee or a shared responsibility that falls through the cracks when things get busy. If you cannot name that person on your current projects right now, that is your first action item.
Give leaders the language. All good construction leaders want to help but sometimes freeze in the moment. Notice when something seems off with your people. Name it without overstepping: “Hey, you seem like you’ve got a lot on your plate. How are you actually doing?” Then navigate to the next step (e.g., EAP, a mental health first aider, call 988, a referral to HR, etc.). Leaders do not need to solve it. They need to be the bridge to someone who can. Write that process down and make sure every superintendent and foreman on your site has it.
Reach the people your programs are missing. Ask yourself these questions. Are there resources for leaders? Are the toolbox talks available in other languages? Do the peer support contacts reflect the demographics of your workforce? Is your EAP accessible, easy to navigate, and trusted by workers who have never used a service like it before? Culturally responsive outreach is not an add-on. It is the difference between a resource that exists and a resource that works.
Measure it like it matters. If mental health is a priority, treat it like one. Track EAP utilization. Run an anonymous five-question pulse survey with your workforce. Review turnover patterns against project schedule pressure. Analyze near-miss data alongside crew workload and hours. In construction, we do not guess on safety. We should not guess about this either.

What to Do

You do not need a new program. You need to go deeper into existing ones and close the gaps that have been tolerated.

This week, find out whether you can explain your EAP in 30 seconds. If you cannot, learn it before Friday. Identify one person on your team who seems off and have a real conversation with them.

This month, schedule Mental Health First Aid training for any superintendent or foreman who has not completed it. Conduct an anonymous pulse survey. Designate a mental health point person on each active project.

This quarter, have a senior leader share something honest about stress, pressure, or their own struggle with sustaining healthy habits. Build mental health into your onboarding process for new hires and seasonal workers so it is a real conversation, not just a handout. Make sure your training has a recertification cycle, because that training session from five years ago is not enough.

The Challenge

Mental Health Month ends on May 31. Employees who are struggling quietly do not get a month off from it. Neither does the leader grinding through another stretch of travel and tight deadlines.

Neither do you.

Construction has built the case for mental health awareness. What still needs to be carried out is building the systems, the language, the champions, and the accountability. That is what will make support real every day, on every project, in every season.

That is the work in front of you. The leaders who do it will build safer and stronger jobsites, careers, families, and communities because of what happened on their watch.

Mental health resources are available at:

Zach Harris is an Employee Wellness Consultant for HealthSource Solutions, working with construction companies to build sustainable wellbeing strategies at the project and organizational level. He has nearly a decade of experience building healthier and safer workforces in challenging industries. Zach graduated in Exercise and Wellness from Brigham Young University and is a NASM-Certified Personal Trainer. He can be reached on LinkedIn and at zachharris@healthsource-solutions.com.