Late last year, a long-standing employee brought forward the opportunity for CDN to invest in mental wellness programming. As we evaluated the opportunity, we recognized it was more than a financial gift opportunity and far more of a partnership long overdue.

We came to understand that real and relevant data pointed to a proportionally high representation of suicide rates of men in trades, industry, and agriculture. A long-standing trend remains that men are more likely to die from suicide than women, particularly white, middle-aged men—a demographic we see in our work sites and leadership teams today.

Despite the most targeted awareness campaigns, men in our workplaces are less likely to seek mental health support than others. The stigma of perceived weakness, societal expectations of masculinity, and a reluctance to express vulnerability are all real factors at play. These losses of life to suicide are not the result of personal weakness, but from unseen pain, chronic stress, or isolation—all symptoms of the demands of our industry.

Experts assess that the challenge to address this is, surprisingly, not access to resources but rather the opportunity to talk openly about their mental health. By this we mean clearly defined opportunities to talk about their challenges and assess what help is needed in a setting that welcomes the conversation. And we know this. We know that to change behaviour, we need to meet people where they are: creating opportunities in the spaces that are familiar and common—and that includes their workplace.

In November 2024, we formed a partnership with Tough Enough to Talk About It, a program originating from our hometown of Grande Prairie, Alberta, that delivers a specifically tailored session to discuss mental wellness for those in our industry. We made it compulsory for every leader—and available to every employee. Additionally, we made a financial gift to ensure this session can be delivered anywhere in North America, and to every organization in our sector who wants it, in this calendar year.

At CDN, we wanted to signal our commitment in a single statement. We want to be tough enough to talk about our mental wellness.

To us, it’s not enough to be good, we must be well also.

In these 90-minute workshops, we’ve been overcome with the stories our people have shared—the loss of coworkers, friends, and brothers. We’ve come to see that even within our organization, there are people in our business today for whom the struggle of their human experience and resilience is real and present.

These stories and shared experiences have surfaced our awareness of how we understand and cultivate psychological safety in our workplaces. A question for us all to consider is this: In our respective health and safety programs, how much are we intentionally focused on the psychological safety of our people?

What we are talking about is the intentional creation of an environment where individuals feel safe to speak up, share ideas, ask questions, admit mistakes, and take risks without fear of humiliation, punishment, or retaliation. We are talking about a place for vulnerability.

We know the keys to unlocking psychological safety. For us as leaders, we need to model our own vulnerability. We need to encourage employees to have a voice that resonates and matters to the business. We need to consistently react constructively and methodically as we address the challenges and opportunities we face.

These are numerous data points to support what a healthy workplace can deliver. There is a data-driven relationship between wellness and performance—18% higher productivity, 23% increase in profitability, 64% decrease in safety incidents, and the list goes on.

But the imperative here is far more human.

The loss of an employee—a peer, a teammate—to suicide comes down to this: one is too many.

Every person within an organization brings more than just skills or productivity. They are someone's colleague, someone’s family member, someone’s friend. Their presence contributes uniquely to the fabric of the workplace, and their absence leaves a lasting void.

When we experience loss to suicide, it is not just a personal tragedy—it’s a collective loss. A team loses a colleague and contributor. A family loses a loved one. A community loses a voice. We grieve not only the person but also the lost opportunities for them to have shared and for a point of support or intervention to be created.

Here, we have come to understand that this is not about a program—that is simply our starting place. It’s about our posture; one where leaders speak with humility, teams connect with candor, and no one is left to carry their burden in silence.

So, what is 90 minutes of mental health space worth to us?

It’s worth making room for the kind of workplace where each employee reinforces that no one has to be too tough to talk about it.

If you, or someone you know needs help, please call 9-8-8. Help is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. For more about CDN’s commitment to Tough Enough to Talk about it, visit cdcontrols.ca/community.