Building resilience in the trades

By The Coffee Shops®.

Mental health, community and resilience matter in an industry where changing workloads and daily pressures can take a toll on tradespeople.

The construction trades demand skill, responsibility and adaptability, but those demands can also create substantial stress. On a recent episode of From the Ground Up™, host Karol Weyman spoke with Barry Campbell and Dennis Barrent of K9 Fasteners about recognizing mental health challenges, building resilience and strengthening connections within the trades.

For Barry, the subject is personal. Before his work with K9 Fasteners, he spent 20 years working full time in the trades and experienced the pressures contractors face firsthand. From moving between jobsites to balancing quality and efficiency, tradespeople continually manage changing demands.

“I carried the weight of the day-to-day challenges, the challenges on the jobsite,” Barry said. “The challenges of doing things fast, efficient, doing it right the first time, not the second time.” Those pressures grew when Barry transitioned from working as a carpenter to becoming self-employed. Along with running a business, he was supporting a growing family and learning how to handle responsibilities he had not encountered before.

Dennis brought a similarly varied perspective to the conversation. His career has included forestry and wildland fire suppression, groundskeeping, manufacturing and journalism. Across those experiences, he has seen how working independently can bring both satisfaction and stress. “There’s an enormous amount of satisfaction when you do a job right and do it good, do it really, you know, the right way and you bring home the support your family needs, and you do a good job for your client,” Dennis said. “But there’s a lot of stress that you got to live with pulling that off too.”

Karol emphasized that supporting mental health does not mean having every answer. Resources and a culture where people feel accepted can help give those experiencing difficulties somewhere to turn. She also highlighted 988 as a resource for people in crisis.

Ultimately, the conversation underscored the value of connection. As Dennis put it, tradespeople can benefit from sharing their skills, knowledge and support rather than facing challenges alone.

Listen to the full podcast or Watch the recording to learn more about mental health and resilience in the trades.