Bringing Mental Health Resources Directly to Construction Workers at JFK Terminal 1

Yesterday, we had the opportunity to visit the Terminal 1 construction site at JFK Airport alongside Chris Lalevee to present Protecting Under the Hard Hat, a web-based tool designed to make mental health resources more accessible for construction workers.

The construction industry faces a serious mental health crisis. It has some of the highest rates of opioid overdoses among all professions, and approximately 6,500 construction workers die by suicide each year. These statistics highlight the urgent need to make support systems easier to access and normalize conversations around mental health in the workplace.

Our goal with Protecting Under the Hard Hat is simple: connect workers with resources that can support their mental health, wellbeing, and safety. By leveraging a web-based platform, we aim to make these resources available in a practical and accessible way for workers in the field. During our visit to JFK Terminal 1, we had the opportunity to distribute these resources among more than 2,500 workers on site. It was encouraging to see the level of engagement and openness surrounding the importance of mental health and worker wellbeing on such a large-scale infrastructure project.

We would like to thank Joe Schwed and Chris Frey from Ferrovial, as well as Anthony Fedor and Chandler Cortez from Tishman, for inviting us and supporting this initiative.

While there is still much work to be done, we hope that Protecting Under the Hard Hat represents one step toward improving health, safety, and overall wellbeing for construction workers everywhere.