Wellness Workdays has launched BRAVE: Building a Toolbox for Mental Health & Safety, a first-of-its-kind training program designed specifically for the construction industry. The program is aimed at addressing the sector’s urgent mental health challenges by equipping frontline leaders, safety managers, and crews with tools to recognize, address, and prevent mental health crises before they escalate.
BRAVE is built around a practical, human-centered framework represented by its name: Be aware, Reach out, Actively listen, Validate and inform, and Encourage next steps. The approach is intended to help construction teams turn awareness into action at moments when mental health and safety are most at risk. Construction workers face some of the highest rates of suicide, substance use disorders, and mental health concerns of any profession in the United States, driven by high-stress job sites, physical risks, and stigma around emotional vulnerability.
“Mental health is safety,” says Debra Wein, CEO and founder of Wellness Workdays. “BRAVE is not just another training program. It is a core layer of jobsite safety. By giving workers tools to recognize warning signs, listen without judgment, and connect peers to help, we’re building stronger, safer teams.”
The program is delivered in person by certified behavioral health professionals with experience in safety environments. Using real-world construction scenarios, role play, and guided discussion, participants learn how to recognize signs of distress, substance misuse, and mental illness; apply the five-step BRAVE Action Plan; understand privacy, cultural humility, and de-escalation techniques; connect coworkers to professional help and workplace resources; and practice self-care after difficult interactions.
With more than two decades of experience delivering measurable health improvement programs to high-impact industries, Wellness Workdays developed BRAVE in collaboration with mental health clinicians, safety experts, and construction teams. The program has already been adopted into practice at many of the country’s top 20 General Contractors.
