Several members of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois community outreach and engagement team have been trained to help people identify coworkers, friends and relatives who may be struggling with mental health.
With certification by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, they provide mental health first-aid instruction. They offer tools and resources in English and Spanish to help people identify coworkers, friends and relatives who might be struggling.
The team recently held a training session for the Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention and 30 participants learned to identify and respond to a mental health or substance misuse crisis.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found the construction industry has one of the highest suicide rates among U.S. professions, says Sonya Bohmann, the alliance’s executive director. BCBSIL’s training has provided participants tools they need to become mental health awareness champions at their work sites, she says.
“Our participants are people who really believe in the mission and want to help,” says Bohmann, adding that construction culture has evolved to include mental health awareness as part of physical workplace safety. “It’s a commitment to take the information and put it into practice. But they are fully engaged and want to help someone.”
Offering resources to increase awareness
Community outreach specialist Mercedes Kaltenecker says mental health first aid instruction team complements the health education services the team offers to support community partners statewide.
“There’s still a lot of stigma around mental health care,” Kaltenecker says. “But people are willing to talk more about it, making it a lot more normalized.”
The instructors have trained 215 people virtually and in-person since starting the program in 2024. The training has been especially valued by community health workers who are trusted sources of information in underserved communities, says Stephanie Peden-Fox, BCBSIL’s senior manager of community health initiatives. “This training is a must-have in so many organizations,” she says.
Although trainers strictly follow a course agenda, group discussions are always different, says Joyce Valdez, a BCBSIL community outreach specialist and instructor.
“Everyone comes with their own triggers,” says Valdez, whose family has been affected by mental health struggles. “The learnings carry over to all aspects of your life.”
Tools learned can be applied to help anyone, no matter in the workplace, fellowship groups or sports teams and leagues, she says.
“This is about teaching survivorship,” Valdez says. “We’re helping create more awareness around mental health resources so no one has to stay in that space.”