At the first Construction Working Minds Summit, held earlier this year in Denver, Colorado, SMOHIT and SMART were jointly honored with the Mental Health Visionary award. The summit was hosted by the Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention, United Suicide Survivors International and Johnson Depression Center, and it brought together about 200 stakeholders from 15 different organizations across four countries for what organizers termed “real talk, real training and real community.”

This award recognized the extraordinary commitment by SMART and SMOHIT in addressing and improving mental health in the construction industry and beyond, with efforts including the SMOHIT-SMART MAP, peer-to-peer training, suicide prevention programs and the Helpline, available 24/7 at 877-884-6227.

Chris Carlough, SMART MAP program coordinator, accepted the award from keynote speaker Calvin Beyer, vice president of risk and worker mental wellbeing for Holmes, Murphy & Associates, and Sally Spencer-Thomas, Psy.D., United Suicide Survivors International and SMART MAP consultant.

“It is an honor for our organization to be recognized for the vital work we’ve put in by talking and training in a difficult subject matter,” Carlough said. “We can all take some pride that our work has improved mental health in our industry.”

Carlough, who spoke at the summit’s panel case studies on “Lessons Learned from Early Adopters,” noted the importance of SMART’s early foray into messaging about mental health awareness over the past 10 years. By helping lead the way toward change, efforts by SMOHIT and SMART have stood as an example for others in the industry, multiplying the good work that can be done for those in crisis.