The Working Mind
Trades Manager
FOR TRADES LEADERS
Among members of Canada’s building trades unions, stigma is the most-cited barrier to using mental health supports, and only about one in ten has used them. Supervisors are the ones positioned to change that.
The Working Mind: Trades Manager was built by Opening Minds in partnership with the Infrastructure Health and Safety Association (IHSA), for the people who lead crews. You’ll learn to recognize early signs, have supportive conversations on site, and understand your duty to inquire and accommodate, while looking after your own well-being along the way. Your crew gets a supervisor they can approach, your organization gets leaders working from the same language, and a safety culture that includes psychological safety, with a program built to help reduce absenteeism and support retention.
Source: Canada’s Building Trades Unions, 2025
On a job site, the supervisor sets the tone for everything, including whether mental health gets talked about at all.
Leave with the language, the tools, and a clear next step, for the conversations that are hardest to start on site
Group bookings only.
The Working Mind: Trades Manager is delivered privately for employers, union locals and training centres, scheduled around crew rotations and job site demands. Foremen, supervisors, union stewards and business agents set the tone for how mental health is talked about on site, and training them together builds a consistent approach across crews. Available virtually across Canada, or in person at your shop, yard, hall or training centre in the Lower Mainland. In-person delivery elsewhere is available with travel costs covered.
$375 + GST per person. 8 hrs.
Contact us to check group sizes and availability.
hello@ateliermhl.ca
64%
of construction workers say they wish their employers did more to support
mental health at work.
Statistics Canada, cited in Opening Minds, 2025
The Curriculum
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Developed by the Infrastructure Health and Safety Association in partnership with the Mental Health Commission of Canada, this program speaks directly to what trades leaders actually deal with: high turnover, tight deadlines, and a crew's mental health that can shift fast. It's delivered by a facilitator who has managed teams herself, not just studied them. It includes six videos of real trades workers sharing their own experiences with mental health struggles and recovery, along with scenarios and case studies drawn from heavy industry, so what happens in the room reflects what happens on the job. Good leadership can't run on empty, so this course protects your own resilience while giving you real tools to support your crew.
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We'll begin by establishing a shared foundation, breaking down what mental health actually looks like on a busy job site. This opening module tackles the heavy stigma historically found in the trades, focusing on how crew culture directly shapes whether a worker feels safe enough to speak up, or chooses to struggle in silence until it impacts safety. -
Moving into our next session, we'll introduce the Mental Health Continuum Model. This tool replaces guesswork with clear, objective indicators. You'll learn to spot subtle shifts in behavior across your team, giving you the confidence to start a supportive conversation before a mental health struggle becomes a safety risk or a performance issue. -
In the afternoon, we'll pivot to focus entirely on you. Managing crews, client demands, and supply chains takes a massive toll. You'll examine your own stress responses and learn practical, evidence-informed strategies to manage frustration and pressure, ensuring you can keep a cool head and protect your own health under stress. -
We'll close the day by turning these frameworks into direct leadership actions. You'll practice the clear, down-to-earth language required to support a struggling worker. We'll map out how to handle modified duties, manage critical incidents on site, and confidently know when and how to connect a crew member to professional resources.Please note
For prevention purposes, this course includes content on suicide awareness. Verbal trigger warnings are provided prior to discussing this material to ensure a safe, supportive learning environment for everyone.
Culture
Cuts through toughing it out culture where struggle has long gone unspoken on site
Recognition
Flags behavioural changes in a crew member, before they become a safety incident
Action
Gives you the words to start that conversation with a crew member, without needing to have all the answers
Why Both Matter
Atelier Mental Health Literacy + Facilitation delivers The Working Mind as parallel programs - one designed specifically for managers and one for employees - because what each group needs from this training is genuinely different.
When both cohorts complete their respective streams, they return to the same workplace with a shared language and shared frameworks for mental health. That shared foundation is what builds psychological safety - and psychological safety is what changes workplace culture.