Construction workers face tough conditions that often take a toll on their mental health, contributing to issues like drug abuse and suicide. A Colorado mother and a local industry group are working to change that by promoting mental health awareness on job sites.
Heather Gutierrez lost her 17-year-old son, Ty, to an intentional fentanyl overdose in March 2022. Ty had battled mental health challenges for years, cycling through inpatient and outpatient care with few effective resources to support him.
“It got progressively worse,” Gutierrez said. “There was not a good resource to support him. You feel helpless, and it shows how much of a need there is, not just in construction, but across the board.”
Now, Gutierrez co-chairs the Mental Health Working Group at the Associated General Contractors (AGC) alongside Nick Williams, CEO of the American Subcontractors Association of Colorado. The group began as a task force in 2021 after alarming data revealed that the construction industry leads all private sectors in suicide and overdose deaths.
Although national drug overdose rates dropped by around 35% recently, Williams noted that construction hasn’t seen the same improvement.
“Unfortunately, we still do have an abnormal number of deaths by opioid overdose in our industry,” he said.
Williams pointed to several contributing factors, including a culture of alcohol use, job-related injuries, limited access to mental health care, financial stress, and the seasonal nature of construction work.
The working group’s mission is to break the stigma around mental health in construction by encouraging open conversations, training workers to recognize warning signs, and offering support resources to both employers and employees.
“Just five years ago, there was a large stigma,” Williams said. “We’ve started to see that stigma reduce just by normalizing the conversation.”
Gutierrez emphasized the power of sharing personal experiences. “Having leaders who’ve been through suicide or substance use, or who have lived in active addiction themselves, speak out—that’s how we create change.”
The group also promotes harm-reduction strategies like access to Narcan and naloxone, life-saving drugs that reverse opioid overdoses. In 2024, they launched Colorado’s first industry-specific training on how to use naloxone. That training included stories from an overdose survivor and a recovery counselor. Another training is planned for August.
The long-term goal is to lower suicide and overdose rates by creating a culture that values mental health and safety.
“What we do is inherently dangerous,” Gutierrez said. “If you’re not mentally prepared, you’re not only a risk to yourself but also to the coworker next to you.”
For Gutierrez, the mission is deeply personal. “I’m not going to let anybody forget my son,” she said. “His death will not be in vain.”
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