Melissa: You're listening to the do something more podcast, and this is episode 42 with Bryce Julian and hard Hats of hope, helping with mental health and suicide prevention in blue collar careers. Welcome to the do Something more podcast, a service oriented show where we highlight the helpers who inspire us all to do something more. I'm your host, Melissa Draper. Thank you so much for being here.
Melissa: Welcome to another episode of the podcast. And today I'm going to be talking to Bryce Julian, who has recently started and is working on getting his 513 c for his nonprofit, Hard Hats of Hope. And I was really intrigued when I first learned about Bryce's nonprofit, because it deals with mental health and suicide, but he's really found a way to zero it into a population that he has concerns about. So, Bryce, welcome to the show.
Brice: Yeah, thanks for having me, Melissa. I really appreciate being here.
Melissa: Why don't you start off by just introducing yourself?
Brice: So, my name is Bryce Julian. I'm the founder of Hard Hats Hope. I have two beautiful children at home and a wife, Michaela, who's actually kind of the reason that I started this whole thing. She found a pretty tough lady's resource center, which is another nonprofit here in Utah. She knows how passionate I am about protecting a valuable resource we have of blue collar men and women, and she kind of helped me push this to become real life, and she has bred the philanthropy in our household, and it's really awesome to see everything kind of coming together now.
Melissa: That's great. Yeah. It can be a little contagious once you get doing some of those things.
Brice: I definitely agree there. It changes your life when you see what good one person can do and how many people you can affect just being sincere and nice to people. Really?
Melissa: Absolutely. Well, why don't you just go ahead and give us the background behind hard hats of hope, just exactly what its mission is, what it does, and kind of your hopes and vision for it.
Brice: So, hard hats of hope, like you were saying, we're still really in the fetal stage of everything. We're just barely getting started. Don't have any funding or anything yet on it, so everything we're doing is kind of just out of our own pockets getting stuff going here. It's kind of crazy how it started. It really started over more or less a campfire conversation a few of us guys were having while we were out on a job in Wyoming, early 2022, putting up a transmission line. And we were reminiscing because about four of us sitting there had a supervisor of ours that committed suicide. A couple of years ago, and we were reminiscing on him and kind of talking about how there's a lot of resources, I would say, for suicide prevention out there, but there's not a lot that would tailor to, I guess, our guys. And there's a stigma in construction and other blue collar fields about, I guess, asking for help or knowing when you're not okay. And it's very disheartening because here at the company I work for now, we lost another gentleman just this last year to suicide. So we really wanted to start something to help these guys that speaks their language, that can really connect with these guys because there's a different kind of connection that I feel like blue collar men and women have than what a lot of other people have. We spend more time with each other than we do our own families. We speak a different language to each other. I'm sure you've probably heard conversations between a couple construction workers and you have no idea what they're talking about, but they can go on for hours about something. It's just something I feel like needs to be addressed. I mean, if you look at any of the charts released by the CDC or anything, there's mining and extraction, construction. A lot of your blue collar fields are all in that top ten, top 25, however far back you want to look at it, they're all up top there, and they're double the national average. And we didn't feel like there's anything for us to help us out. So I teamed up with Scott Timlick, who's actually one of the gentlemen that was around the campfire there. And with him, the help of the local labor's union here in Salt Lake, the BA, Kevin Flyn, he's on our board as well, along with my wife Michaela, who's kind of been our guiding light in getting the nonprofit stuff side figured. We're. Our primary focus is on suicide prevention, mental health, and substance abuse awareness in blue collar jobs.
Melissa: Yeah, I saw on your instagram how you had shared those statistics that I had no idea that the construction build has hides suicide rate among all occupations.
Brice: Yeah. And it's crazy because a lot of companies don't even know that. And talking to my leadership at the company I'm at now, I kind of brought up those facts to them and they had no idea. And it's weird how there's a handshake, I feel like between making sure your guys mental health is there and is intact and production. There's a study out there that shows for every dollar a company spends in mental health for their workers. They earn another $14 in revenue from that. They're not losing on sick days or lost time from those gentlemen or ladies.
Melissa: Yeah. So it can be a great incentive for individuals and organizations and companies to really look into that and do more things to protect their mental health.
Brice: 100%.
Melissa: And I would guess I've not worked in construction. Why do you think it is those, why would you share that those numbers are so high?
Brice: I can give you kind of a personal reason and a broad one there. So the broad thing I would say is a lot of us were long hours. You're out in the heat, the cold, you're gone from your families. Personally, I was gone from my family for months at a time when we're out doing right away work, we don't go home a whole lot, and that really wears on you. And then there's the inevitable layoff season that comes in our field. And that could be really hard on guys because that puts financial strain on you and your family. And you get used to feeling like you're something out in the field. And then you go home and you sit, and that starts eating at guys. They want to be doing something, especially with getting used to always doing something at work. Right? You go home and you sit on a layoff and your mind starts to wander. And I think that's a big factor into things as well. And then the fluctuation of pay and everything.
Melissa: Right?
Brice: And then personally, like I was saying, when I was out doing right away work, I was gone for my family a lot. You're often in really remote places. There's not a whole lot to do to distract you. So you work long hours, you go back, sit in a hotel room or a camp trailer, and your mind starts to wander or watching your kids grow up through a phone screen. My son, who's two now, his first year of his life, I saw him for 34 weekends.
Melissa: Wow.
Brice: And so that was really hard on me. And it kind of started this snowball of an idea that has turned into what now hard hats of hope is hoping to become.
Melissa: And that is, that's a perfect storm of different things, I think, that can come together with those experiences. But I'd love to hear, I know you're still kind of in the beginning groundwork stages of this. What are some of your ideas for helping and reaching out and lifting in these ways with the construction industry or blue collar industries?
Brice: So we feel like the basis of everything in order to really make a difference is getting in with companies, getting in with crews, and guys, and really changing that stigma of mental health in construction and making it more acceptable to talk about. And by breaking that stigma and teaching guys to be your brother's keeper, I feel like that's the first and last line of defense in order to preserve a very valuable resource that we have. I mean, people think about, you got your first responders and everyone like that that has very dangerous jobs.
Melissa: Right.
Brice: Construction actually has a higher fatality rate due to just on the job stuff, but you're twice as likely to lose guys with suicide. And a lot of the times those guys don't feel like they can reach out to their spouses or a family member. Statistically, they reach out to a coworker first before they do a very rash and permanent decision. And so if we can train these guys to be able to talk to one another and be family with each other, that's our biggest push there. And then we do want to work with different companies that have, like, eaps and stuff like that to be able to help the workers realize that they have these benefits that a lot of companies pay for, but workers have no idea how to work them and quite frankly, can be pretty confusing. And for those that don't know what an Eap is, it's an employee assistance program. A lot of times those cover some counseling and family help and stuff like that.
Melissa: That's great. And reducing the stigma. That is a huge part, I think, for anything that works within mental health and helping people to get the help they need 100%.
Brice: And eventually, we do want to have an app based platform. We've been spitballing some ideas around that, and then there's some other stuff that we've come up with to help generate some revenue, to be able to get us able to go and talk to these crews in these companies. Because, quite frankly, right now, my household, personally, we're a single income household. I'm the breadwinner there, and I can't take time off work, really, to go talk to these guys. So I'm doing what I can now, at least in the companies I work with and our clients and stuff like that, that we work with, to start breeding this and blending it out. But hopefully, the goal is to be able to move into this full time at some point and start really making a bigger impact.
Melissa: Yeah, just keep spreading the word about what you're trying to do.
Brice: Yes.
Melissa: So have you had things personally that you've done that have helped you manage some of those challenges of working in the construction industry, being away from your family, the physical all of that.
Brice: Yeah. And I mean, it's going to fall back onto what I said before, being your brother's keeper. I actually have a couple of coworkers that I talk to on a regular basis. We're brothers. We're family together. And one of them in particular, if I'm feeling down or upset, I can give him a call. And we talk about nonsense. We talk about things from splitting logs to how his greenhouse is doing, how his dogs running around the yard. And just getting that break from what my current position that I'm perceiving is, has helped me tremendously. And I feel like breeding that being your brother's keeper and opening that line of communication with each other is something that can help other guys. And also taking advantage of my company's eaps helped me in my struggles personally.
Melissa: So you've benefited from that and want to help others see that as well. Yeah. It is amazing the connection that when we can find that connection, how it can help with those experiences.
Brice: Yeah. Especially when you're both sitting out. This gentleman I was talking about, he's my next door neighbor for about a year while we were living in campers together. So it changes a whole dynamic of the relationship when you're pretty much living together and working together.
Melissa: Right. Well, you kind of shared that this all started with a little campfire chat and that also you've been personally affected by coworkers and those, you know, in having mental health struggles in your field. But are there any other stories or experiences that you'd like to share with us that kind of have helped really impact you on the work that you're doing or have helped, you know, that you're on the right track for where you need to be with this.
Brice: So one thing that I've noticed is since I've kind of made this personal shift of looking after my guys and being that person guys can come to? Winter has set in here in Utah, we started to see some winter conditions hitting, especially up where we're working here. So we started laying guys off, and usually you lay guys off and you know you're not going to see them again. But everyone that we've talked to so far has pretty much promised that they want to come back just because the way that we manage things now and breed that atmosphere in our jobs has made it so guys want to continue to work with us. And it's helped me become a better leader and help me be more understanding of people's different situations.
Melissa: Right. And, yeah, I cannot imagine the emotional toil that would take to know that a season of layoff for you might be coming every year. That alone, huge for all of you to navigate in your industry.
Brice: Yeah. I've been fortunate enough to not have had to experience it in the past few years. I've stepped more into a management role, and so that's helped me quite a bit there. But going and telling two guys just yesterday that it's that time of year, it kind of makes a lump boil up in your throat because you know that it's not benefiting them. It's hard to do. And if we can find a way to help these guys, one thing with hard hats of hope that we want to do is help these guys during a layoff season, because like I talked about the Eap earlier, that's a company benefit. But when you get laid off, you lose those to. We want to be able to figure something out through hard hats of hope, being able to supply some sort of counseling or some outreach for these guys when they are laid off to ensure that something doesn't happen in these winter months, which in the winter, I feel like there's an uptick of mental health issues anyways due to weather and all that. And you add being unemployed on top of that, right.
Melissa: Well, I just think thankfully, in the past few years, talking about mental health and emotional health has kind of been a little more on the forefront of people's minds. But the way that you've really realized this focused need on a focused industry and focused ways that people are navigating life, I think is commendable. And I just really wish you the best with all the ways that you're trying to address those issues.
Brice: Well, I definitely appreciate it, and we look forward to being able to help people and get out there and get involved in the community more.
Melissa: I always love, because we have listeners from all over, so I always love to have, near the end of the show, have you give just general advice or encouragement. So for many of us listening that might not be working in construction or blue collar, I'm sure most of us know someone who does, whether it's a family member or a neighbor. So what advice would you give to all of us on ways that we can reach out or lift someone we know that works in that industry and encourage them and help reduce that stigma as well?
Brice: Just be your brother's keeper. Don't shut people out. And let's make sure that we're there for each other. It's not necessarily the easiest of times in a lot of different industries right now. And a simple conversation can change someone's life drastically. Even if it's just about splitting logs or shooting geese or doing something meaningless. That small conversation can really have a big impact on someone's life. And if you feel like you have a burning desire to go and do something that's positive, I think you should chase after it just like I have with hard hats of hope. And we're again hoping to do great things. And I think it's going to be a very positive thing in the world. Yeah, I guess that's it.
Melissa: That's great. And it is. It's so commendable with the busy schedule and your family that you've seen this need and wanted to just go after it. And what is your biggest. Why? What keeps you going?
Brice: What keeps me going is, honestly, if I can have someone just one time in my life, tell me that I helped save their life, it'll make every hardship that we've gone through or going to go through doing this worth it. All it takes is just one. And I feel like that can change everything. Yeah. And I just want to see a difference in our industry. Most people don't think about, you got power, you got gas, you got food being trucked by truckers, you got the roofs over our heads. It all comes from blue collar workers. And that's a very valuable resource that's not only diminishing due to lack of people getting into trades nowadays, but we're killing ourselves off at twice the national average suicide rate. And I think we need to fix that.
Melissa: Right? Yeah. Those blue collar industries cover so many essential things in our society, and so we are all good reason to want to help and encourage and lift those that are working in these industries. And also, just as you said, to be your brother's keeper and to care about your neighbor and those around us.
Brice: Yeah, I have found once you start just that general caring about the people around you, like we were saying in the beginning, it's a very infectious thing and it changes your whole life overall. And I just want to be able to share that feeling and everything with others.
Melissa: Absolutely. Well, Bryce, you want to share where others can find you if they want to learn more about what you're doing or follow along with the progress you're making with your.
Brice: So, like I said, we're still pretty new in the infant stage there, so we do have Instagram and Facebook set up. That's just hard. Hats of hope. Our email is hardhatsofhope@gmail.com if you want to reach out there to help get involved we greatly appreciate it. Hopefully get a website up here soon and some other pages of content to be able to start sharing our message with the world.
Melissa: Well, it's been great hearing your message here today. Thank you so much for being willing to come on the podcast and share about all the good that you're doing.
Brice: Thank you so much. I appreciate your time.
Melissa: That was my interview with Bryce Julian, who is working on organizing his nonprofit hard hats of hope. And as I stated at the beginning of the podcast, I was really interested in interviewing him because mental health is something that affects so many people in different areas and walks of life. But I just thought it was so interesting that he had chosen to really narrow it down onto this particular population of men and women working in blue collar careers. And it's obvious why he did that after speaking with him. As he stated in the podcast there, it all started with a campfire conversation after the suicide of a coworker and friend and realizing how needed this support and work was in his industry. And as he mentioned there in the episode, you can find reports from the CDC, the Center for Disease Control that show the rates of suicide in different professions and construction and blue collar careers have some of the highest rates. And I just think he really did a great job of sharing his opinions and also other things of why that is and the change that needs to happen to help make a difference with those rates. And he had some really good specific steps from his own experiences that he's working on utilizing to help with that. A lot of good work that he's doing there that is much needed. And I loved how he pointed out that blue collar workers fulfill so many essential roles in our society. Really, the infrastructure of our society is supported by men and women working in these fields. And so it's well worth it to all of us to learn about this, to be aware and to know how to support others and make a difference with this particular issue of mental health and suicide prevention. And finally, I loved how he shared multiple times something that I think is universal. No matter what your struggle may be or what profession you work in, or where you're trying to make a difference, to remember, to be your brother's keeper. He mentioned that several times. Taking the time to listen to someone, to connect with them, to check in on them, to show them that you care, can make a huge difference. And I think sometimes we discount that a little bit. But I love the personal story he shared in there and how that has made a difference for him. And it can make a difference in many different ways and it's something we can all do. It really doesn't take too much time to pause a little and leave room and space to listen to someone, to check in on someone, check in on a friend, a family member or a neighbor. So lots of good things in that interview. I will leave links to his instagram and his email if you would like to get in touch with him or follow his instagram to keep up on the good work that he's doing, the progress he's making with that nonprofit. So just as a reminder if you appreciated this episode of the podcast, thought it was interesting, thought it was a good area to be aware of. To learn more about, please share it with a friend that you think would also benefit from the information and messages that were shared in today's episode. Or give the podcast some love and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. Thank you so much for being here. I'll see you next time.