This is my penultimate message in CFMA Building Profits as I will be retiring in August 2023. “Penultimate” is one of my favorite words; very few people know what it means and many think it’s exactly the opposite of its definition — “next to last.” So, consider that my final English class for all of you at CFMA! But I digress.
As many of you know, May is Mental Health Awareness Month. So in this penultimate message, I would like to focus my comments on CFMA’s contributions to mental health and suicide prevention in the construction industry.
CFMA has been a leader in this initiative since 2015, when Cal Beyer and Sally Spencer-Thomas wrote an article on suicide prevention in construction that was published in the November/December issue of CFMA Building Profits. With no idea about what the response to that article would be, there was an outpouring of support on CFMA’s Connection Café that made us realize we had hit a nerve that we didn’t know existed.
Since then, we created the Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention (CIASP) (preventconstructionsuicide.com), which is now an independent 501(c)(3) organization, to raise awareness about suicide prevention and provide resources and tools to create a zero-suicide industry by uniting and supporting the construction community.
The best evidence I can give of how we have changed the conversation in the construction industry was at a recent summit on suicide prevention in which 49 organizations applied to receive an award related to their efforts in suicide prevention. If such an event was held in 2015, there would have been zero applications. We have made much progress, but there is still more to be done.
Let me add one more piece of anecdotal information for those of you who have been fortunate enough to have not been impacted by this issue. I am a lawyer by training, and you’re taught very early on in your career to never ask a question to which you don’t know the answer. I repeatedly make this error every time I speak on this issue because I always ask at the beginning of my presentation for audience members to raise their hand if they have been impacted by suicide personally or professionally.
Last month, when I asked this question at CFMA’s Pittsburgh Chapter, two-thirds of the audience raised their hands. Even I was shocked by the sheer number of people impacted by suicide. Let me repeat: We have done much, but there is still more to do.
One of the articles in this issue, “Great Scott! Looking Back to Travel the Future”, made me reflect on my tenure at CFMA and what I would do differently if given the chance.
While I have made mistakes along the way, there is little I would have changed. The support from our dedicated staff and remarkable volunteer leaders has made my job easier than it should have been. I thank them all, and I thank you for being a member of CFMA.
Copyright © 2023 by the Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA). All rights reserved. This article first appeared in May/June 2023 CFMA Building Profits magazine.