The Wounded Workforce's Center for Construction Mental Health™ (CCMH) announced the successful completion of its inaugural Train the Trainer: Building Resilience Construction Mental Health Certification ®cohort, a first-of-its-kind virtual certification program designed to equip construction industry professionals with the skills, language, and confidence to lead mental health conversations within their own organizations.

The program made its debut as a pre-conference workshop at the Construction Mental Health and Wellbeing Summit in February, training an inaugural cohort of HR professionals, safety leaders, and construction managers to become certified facilitators of the Building Resilience Construction Mental Health Certification® — bringing evidence-based, industry-specific mental health education directly to their teams and job sites.

Mental Health Is a Safety Issue. The Industry Is Starting to Act Like It.

Construction continues to face one of the highest suicide rates of any industry, yet mental health remains dramatically underfunded and undertrained compared to physical safety. The Train the Trainer: Building Resilience program was developed to close that gap — not by relying on outside consultants, but by building internal capacity within organizations themselves.

"When mental health training lives inside your organization, it becomes part of your culture — not a one-time event," said Stephanie Lemek, Founder & CEO of The Wounded Workforce and Executive Director of CCMH. "Train the Trainer exists because we believe every construction organization deserves someone on their team who knows how to recognize when a colleague is struggling, how to start that conversation, and how to connect them to support."

Built for Construction. Not Adapted for It.

Many organizations have turned to Mental Health First Aid as an entry point for workplace mental health training — and while that foundation has value, it was not designed for construction. The Building Resilience Construction Mental Health Certification® goes further, speaking directly to the realities of the industry: hypermasculine job site culture, transient workforces, physical injury and chronic pain, substance use, high-pressure schedules, and the unique barriers that prevent workers from asking for help.

Where general mental health training teaches awareness, Building Resilience teaches application — in the language, scenarios, and culture of construction. Participants don't just learn what mental health is. They learn what it looks like on a job site, how to approach a superintendent who's been isolating, and how to build the kind of psychological safety that makes asking for help possible in environments where toughness is the norm.

For organizations that have already completed Mental Health First Aid, Building Resilience is the logical next step — moving from general literacy to industry-specific action.

What the Program Delivers

The Building Resilience Construction Mental Health Certification® goes beyond awareness. Participants leave equipped to:

• Recognize behavioral and situational signs that someone may be struggling
• Initiate supportive, non-stigmatizing conversations in high-pressure environments
• Respond with practical, evidence-based strategies rooted in construction culture
• Connect mental health to safety, performance, and organizational culture
• Build sustained resilience practices across teams and job sites

Train the Trainer graduates are authorized to facilitate the Building Resilience Certification within their own organizations, multiplying the reach and sustainability of mental health education across the industry.

What Participants Are Saying

"It was a very practical and meaningful session. The Building Resilience Construction Mental Health Certification focuses not just on awareness, but on action. It provided real-world tools to recognize when someone may be struggling, how to start the conversation, and how to respond in a supportive and safe way. What stood out most is how clearly it connects mental health to safety, performance, and culture in construction. It reinforced that mental health is part of the job, not separate from it, and gave practical strategies to help build resilience and better support the people we work with every day. Stephanie Lemek did an outstanding job presenting. She was engaging, knowledgeable, and brought both professionalism and authenticity to the conversation, which made the training impactful and easy to connect with."

— Mark Dyke, Professor of Construction Technology and Management, Ferris State University; Licensed Therapist

Next Cohort Now Open — Limited Enrollment

The next cohort of Train the Trainer: Building Resilience is scheduled for May 14-15 and will be held virtually. The program is designed for HR professionals, safety directors, project managers, superintendents, and mental health advocates working within the construction and built environment industries.

Space is intentionally limited to ensure a high-touch, cohort-based experience.

Apply or learn more at: centerforconstructionmentalhealth.com/train-the-trainer-building-resilience