A Construction Company Embraces Frank Talk About Mental Health To Reduce Suicide
The suicide of a construction worker in 2014 became a pivotal event for the Denver-based company that employed him. The death led management to make mental health care a part of the workplace culture.
It has been five years, but the memory still haunts construction superintendent Michelle Brown.
A co-worker ended his workday by giving away his personal cache of hand tools to his colleagues. It was a generous but odd gesture; no one intending to return to work would do such a thing.
The man went home and killed himself. He was found shortly afterward by co-workers who belatedly realized the significance of his gifts.
"It's a huge sign, but we didn't know that then," Brown says. "We know it now."
The suicide of that construction worker for RK in 2014 became a pivotal event for the company, shaking its 1,500 employees, including co-owner Jon
