Boston – Massachusetts Building Trades Unions (MBTU) and Massachusetts Building Trades Recovery Council (MBTRC) held its 1st Annual Walk for Wellness on Oct. 20 to raise funds and increase awareness and utilization of their unions’ mental health and substance use recovery programs.
Attendees of the event walked through Larz Anderson Park in Brookline to show their solidarity and support. Frank Callahan, president of Massachusetts Building Trades Unions, and Chris Brennan, business manager/secretary-treasurer of IUPAT DC 35, spoke at the event.
The MBTRC has brought together peer-to-peer recovery programs to grow the union recovery movement. These programs connect union construction workers and their dependents with counseling, treatment, and peer support, all free of charge for those struggling with substance use and mental health issues. They do so with the strength of union peers and recovery leaders to guide and protect vulnerable members as they navigate treatment. This is designed to increase the effectiveness of treatment and member retention and allow unions to advocate and negotiate with employers and treatment centers for successful return to work.
By addressing members’ chief fear of losing work and by building networks of sober members who sought treatment and successfully returned to work, MBTU aims to curb the stigma and change the construction industry. Members of the 62 local unions and district councils in MBTU have access to recovery support through the MBTU Recovery Programs.
