We hear about anxiety, stress and burnout all the time, but loneliness — the feeling of being cut off or unseen, even when surrounded by others — has become one of the most serious public health challenges of our time, and it’s hitting working people hard. Loneliness impacts every element of a person’s life, from their happiness at home to their ability to do their job.

To help us understand the loneliness epidemic and what we can do about it, we’re joined by Dr. Michael Barnes, head of the Michael Barnes Family Behavioral Institute and a member of SMART Local 15. Dr. Barnes works with SMART to assist members with mental health, substance abuse and peer support, including initiatives like the SMART MAP, and he is a leading expert in the field. In this episode, he discusses resources available to SMART members and the importance of putting solidarity into practice in order to help members feel less alone. SMART membership can be an antidote to loneliness, as long as we ALL work to make sure our brothers and sisters feel welcomed in our union.

“We can be the answer to loneliness for a lot of people, but we can also be the opposite of that,” Barnes said, adding: “People do care, and it is our responsibility to self-assess. If we’re lonely, if we’re struggling, there are services. It’s a matter of having the courage to ask. There are risks; the other side of that is for individuals who don’t have risks to recognize that they don’t have to have a PHD to help someone.”

This season of Talking SMART focuses exclusively on mental health and the resources available to SMART members. Make sure to subscribe on your preferred podcast program.

Talking SMART brings listeners the voice, stories and power of SMART union members across North America. Members are invited to send feedback and questions to info@smart-union.org.

Even the strongest among us can fall: to exhaustion, to despair, to the weight of the fight. But in this union, we don’t leave any member behind.

In the third episode of Talking SMART, we’re joined by Sheet Metal Occupational Health Institute Trust (SMOHIT) Administrator Aldo Zambetti and Jeremy Holburn of the SMOHIT Helpline, a 24/7 helpline that SMART members and families can call whenever they need support (1-877-884-6227). Brothers Zambetti and Holburn talk about the SMART Member Assistance Program (MAP), the resources available to members and local unions when it comes to mental health support, the importance of talking about your own experiences with mental health, and much more.

“We spent so much time dealing with on-the-job safety, workplace safety [in the past], and we sort of stayed away from work-life balance, we stayed away from things that make us not so safe. When we’re dealing with emotions, and depression, and anxiety, and any time of mental situation or emotional situation that we might be going through, and how it affects us on the jobsite.”

This season of Talking SMART focuses exclusively on mental health and the resources available to SMART members and their families. Make sure to subscribe on your preferred podcast program.

Learn more about SMOHIT here: https://www.smohit.org/

“You are not alone. You don’t need to walk alone. Your union is here — we have your back.”

In the second episode of this season of Talking SMART, we’re joined by SMART Director of Wellness and Mental Health Support Chris Carlough and Union EAP CEO Ben Cort. Together, their work helps ensure that SMART members and families across the United States and Canada don’t have to face life’s challenges alone.

Carlough and Cort discuss the problems they’ve found in other employee assistance programs, the high-quality services members have access to via Union EAP, directions on how members and families can make use of Union EAP, and much more. They also talk about confidentiality, the importance of mental health on the jobsite, and recovery.

As Cort said: “We don’t put a limit on, okay, here what we can do, here’s what we can’t do. Very simply put, if it’s getting in the way of our members’ ability to do their best work and live their best lives, we’re there for it.”

This season of Talking SMART focuses exclusively on mental health and the resources available to SMART members. Make sure to subscribe on your preferred podcast program.