Description

Course Overview
Mental health is an important part of workplace safety, but knowing that mental health matters and having the skills to respond to challenges are two different things.

Mental Health Skills in the Trades is a practical, skills-based training program designed specifically for construction and skilled trades professionals. This full-day course combines QPR suicide prevention training with practical Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)-based techniques that participants can use to recognize better, respond to, and manage mental health challenges in themselves and others.

The morning session will focus on QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer), providing participants with practical tools to recognize the warning signs of someone experiencing a mental health crisis and to understand how to respond and connect that individual with appropriate support.

In the afternoon, participants will build practical mental health skills designed for the realities of the trades. Rather than simply talking about stress and burnout, this interactive session focuses on tools that can be practiced and applied both on the job site and at home.

Participants will explore techniques including:
 • Controlled and box breathing to manage stress and regulate the nervous system
 • Behaviour scheduling to help break cycles of burnout, avoidance, and exhaustion
 • Somatic quieting techniques to manage physical symptoms of stress
 • Thought records to slow reactive thinking and gain perspective
 • Recognizing cognitive distortions and unhelpful thinking patterns
 • Practical strategies for managing stress, conflict, fatigue, financial pressure, and other everyday challenges

Using familiar scenarios and real-world examples, this course provides participants with practical tools they can use long after the training day is over.

Who Should Take This Course?
This course is designed for individuals working in construction and the skilled trades industry, including:

• Tradespeople and apprentices
• Forepersons and site supervisors
• Project managers and construction leaders
• Safety professionals
• Human resources and people leaders

Anyone who wants to build practical skills better to support themselves, their coworkers, and their families. 

Course Schedule

8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

• QPR Suicide Prevention Training with Val O'Leary

Participants will learn the QPR approach—Question, Persuade, Refer—and develop practical skills to recognize warning signs, engage in supportive conversations, and help connect individuals with appropriate resources.

12:30 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

• Lunch Provided

1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

• Practical CBT-Based Mental Health Skills for the Trades with Landon Barrowman

This interactive session focuses on practical techniques that participants can use to manage stress, regulate emotions, recognize unhelpful thinking patterns, and respond more effectively to challenging situations both on and off the jobsite.

Your Instructors

Val O'Leary
Valerie O’Leary has over 20 years of experience as a crisis responder and facilitator for the International Critical Incident Stress Management Foundation and an Emergency Responder. Valerie has a BSW and a diploma that specializes in Community and Workplace Trauma and Individual and Group Crisis Interventions, and is a Certified International Critical Incident Stress Foundation Instructor.

Val is also trained in Skills for Psychological Recovery, Psychological First Aid, ASSIST, Psychological Body Armour, Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR), as well as Emergency Management, and is an instructor for Search and Rescue.

As a contractor for Telus Health, she responds to Critical and Traumatic events -providing Individual and Group Crisis Intervention. In 2022, Val won the 2022 Excellence Award in Western Canada.

Val also worked in the Oilsands for 9 years, responding to incidents on most industrial sites. It was during this time that Val initiated mental wellness research in partnership with the University of Alberta. This research, including its recommendations, was published and is available on Academia.

Over the last few years, Val has worked with the GOA, conducting Cumulative Stress workshops throughout the province. Other classes offered are Stress Management Training, QPR – Suicide Prevention and Intervention, Psychological Body Armour, Healing Ways for Indigenous Communities, Individual Crisis Intervention and Group Crisis Intervention. 

Landon Barrowman  
Landon Barrowman is the founder of Triskel Mental Health, the author of The Working Man's Guide to Mental Health and the creator of Mental Health Skills in the Trades. His work was shaped by his lived experiences and by the responses he received from tradespeople seeking practical, accessible ways to manage stress, burnout, and the everyday challenges of life.

With more than 15 years of experience in the construction and skilled trades industry, including extensive work in Alberta's industrial and oil sands environments, Landon understands firsthand the culture, pressures, and realities of working in the trades. This experience has strongly influenced his approach to mental health education and his focus on making CBT-based skills practical and relatable for tradespeople.

Recognizing that traditional approaches to mental health education do not always connect with workers in the trades, Landon developed a training format that brings practical mental health skills directly into familiar workplace settings.

His approach focuses on building usable skills rather than simply raising awareness. Through real-world scenarios and hands-on practice, participants learn practical CBT-based techniques to regulate stress, manage their thinking, and respond more effectively to challenges both on the job site and at home.