GangboX Episode 13 w/ Keith Welch

Keith is here to talk about ways you can get help both mentally and physically using the SNBTU website...all hail the QR code!  All things Union all things Construction!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Gangbox Podcast. Episode 13. We think we talk about all things construction, all things union, all things Vegas, all things Southern Nevada building trades, special guest. This was my turn to pick a guest. Yeah. I picked my buddy. One didn't show up. One, yeah. I picked my buddy Keith Welch. What's up, Keith?

SPEAKER_02 0:23

Morning, guys. Morning.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

He's been doing the rounds on the podcasts. It's kind of a big deal. Keith is a big deal. And if you're not watching, he has a magnificent mustache if you're just listening.

SPEAKER_02 0:32

See this thing right here?

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Look into that right now.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

I woke up early just to do it for you guys.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Yeah, bro.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Seven o'clock Sunday morning. So I'm excited about this episode. Um, we're gonna be talking about some stuff that I find is super important to me. Um, very uh, very proud of the we're dropping shit over there. Very proud of uh the stuff that the Building Trades is doing around this topic. Um and the people in this room kind of got the ball rolling. So Keith, why don't you kind of introduce yourself? Um, let everyone know who you are, what you do, and then we'll kind of jump into some of the stuff that the Building Trades does, yeah?

SPEAKER_02 1:10

Hell yeah. Let's do it. Appreciate you guys uh inviting me out here. Thanks. Um my name's Keith Welch. Uh I'm the business agent for Local 669. Sprinkler fitters out here uh in District 25, which is uh Las Vegas, Nevada. Um so I believe we're gonna talk about like mental health and substance abuse, which is a big deal for me. Uh my sobriety date is November 7th, uh, 2005. And um, I don't know, I just I represent uh 390 sprinkler fitters in Las Vegas, and uh we have about 70 retirees, so about 320 in Vegas um right now. Uh the big thing I think we're we're trying to talk about is is the recovery committee out here in Vegas, and that was something that Daniel and I and Vince came up with. Uh it wasn't an easy task, um, but we knew that uh substance abuse and mental health is a big deal in in Las Vegas on these job sites and and with construction workers. So uh I think uh that let's get it started.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Yeah, so uh I mean when I became the business agent, I was already in recovery, right? My my sub sobriety date is August 21st, 2011. And uh I know I took the job with the intent of trying to help as many people as I could. Um that was one of the the motivating factors in me taking the position. Um but I got in this position and realized um there's a lot of shit I have to do, you know, and I kind of let the job um take over and distract me from one of the things that I thought I should have been doing, which is bringing um recovery, whether it's mental health recovery or substance abuse disorder recovery to the to the membership. And you know, I knew Keith before either one of us were were business agents. We were just uh field guys when I met Keith uh many, many years ago. And uh we were both in recovery. Keith is one of the uh first people I met in my recovery. Um and then life kind of found us both uh in this business agent position, and uh, you know, we thought, you know, I'll I'll go to the beginning. So I was in a conference in in uh Boston and I went to a meeting, um, an anonymous meeting, and someone told me, hey, there's a really good one at this meeting. They're like, hey, tomorrow on Sunday, that's the best meeting in all of Boston. And I'm like, okay, you know, the conference starts Sunday night, so I had all Sunday day. This was a Sunday morning meeting. So I show up to this meeting and they have this recovery meeting. It's in the sheet metal uh union hall. And I thought, God, that's awesome, dude. They have like this recovery meeting. I walk in there and it's packed. There's a hundred people in there, construction workers, attorneys, you know. And I saw the guy who invited me to it, he like weighed me down from the other side of the room and he's like, Hey, you made it. And I'm like, Yeah, and he's like, Yeah, so all the construction guys sit over here. That row right there, that's the judges. There's judges that sit there, and I go, Oh, that's cool. And he goes, and over there in the corner, that's where Marty sits. And I'm like, Marty? And he's like, Yeah, you know, Marty Walsh. At the time, he was the um secretary of labor for the for the United States, you know. Yeah, and I'm like, Are you kidding me? You know, so you know, I came back to Vegas. Uh, the first person I reached out to was my good buddy Keith Welch. You know, we'd been in recovery together for a long time. I was like, man, how do we how do we do something like that? You know, and then Vince, you know, we we go to Vince, and why don't you share like what what were your thoughts when when Keith and I came to you and said, Hey, we want to do like a recovery committee, you know, because we have an organizing committee, we have a women's committee, you know.

SPEAKER_02 4:29

We have an apprenticeship committee.

SPEAKER_01 4:30

Apprenticeship committee, like, hey, could we do a committee for like recovery? And what share your thoughts on kind of how how you took that?

SPEAKER_00 4:37

Yeah, dude, uh uh it was almost two years ago now. I remember um I didn't care. I was like, Yeah, dude, if you guys want to do it, do it. Like I just wanted people to be a part of building trades. I wanted building trades to and its affiliates to them just to be a part of, like, right? Like make the ultimate union with all the other unions. And and essentially, so when you guys came up to me, I remember thinking, like, I don't know shit about this. I don't care, like, whatever you guys want to do, like you guys run it and I'll support it, right? And once you guys explained the concept of like the committee to me, because people just automatically assumed it was gonna be a 12-step program, which it's not. It is our recovery committee is not a 12-step program, it's not trying to get people fucking sober. Um, and a lot of people who don't understand sobriety just automatically was like, oh, recovery, they must be getting people sober, they're gonna talk to them about God. Like, what the fuck? No. And and I was like, it's fucking crazy. It's and when you guys explained the concept, which from what I remember, I was drinking a lot back then. So what from what I remember was like, hey, we're we want to talk, we want to create a committee, uh, bring in people just like the other committees from all the different unions to talk about what their um healthcare programs, like their EAPs, their BHOs, all their all their um the things that we already pay for out of out of uh through our insurances, what they have to offer, right? Whether um mental health, substance abuse, all that shit. So I was like, Yeah, fuck it. I don't I don't and the thing is, dude, nobody knows about it. Everyone just thinks that you're gonna get fired if you say you're an alcoholic or if you're a drug addict or I'm gonna fucking murder somebody or kill kill myself. So I was like, Yeah, man, like whatever you guys think, because I again I didn't know shit about it. And we're all scared to use our EAPs because we think that they're just gonna get us fired, and it's just a crutch, right? Um, so when you guys told me all this shit, I remember I was excited. We did a couple meetings, and I was like, I was the only one who wasn't sober at first, and you guys are like, No, we need not sober people. Yeah, the committee itself was wild. We were until we were getting it wrapped up, yeah, dude. And I was like, okay, so we need people who aren't sober. Like, I'll be that guy. I love to fucking drink, and I was fucking partying a menace, dude. And uh I would tell the other managers or we'd be at meetings and I'd be like, oh, the recovery committee's great, dude. It's actually, I think Daniel's gonna do good and Keith. And I'd be having like an old fashion in my hand, and uh it's like fucking they would look at the old fashioned, I'm like, I ain't the one with the fucking problem, guys. Like, we keep fucking like and that's when I was like, it's not a 12-step program. Because they were like, Yeah, what kind of 12-step program you working with? So uh it was it was crazy, bro, but it it was effective. I remember thinking of the vision, we're like, okay, what are we gonna do? Like we're gonna create stickers, it's just gonna be another do nothing committee. Yeah, but that's the blessing. And and just saying it out loud is none of our committees are do nothing committees, bro. All of our fucking committees are all active, bro.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

They're all fucking good. Well, and when you're starting a committee and you're like, okay, we're gonna start this committee, all right, who wants to be on it? And then we get people that volunteer, and then you have a meeting, and you all get together, you're like, all right, what are we doing? You know, because we have no history, right? We don't know.

SPEAKER_02 7:44

We had to start, we had to start like an organ like organization inside the committee, right? Stickers, shirts, banners, uh, who's gonna talk to the certain contractors, who's gonna reach out to the general contractors, you know, and we all had to create who had the most, uh, who had the best repertoire with certain contractors, or who was a superintendent for a contractor, stuff like that, so we can get out there. And actually, we have uh on May 9th, I actually have a schedule for uh Bombard Mechanical invited us to their safety stand down. So that's another thing we do is uh, you know, the job safety stand down. So we started, we had a recovery committee night, right? Uh or a recovery uh recovery night, right? So we had Darren Waller, Max Crosby came out and shared about, you know, uh their their uh mental health and their substance abuse uh and how they get away with or get along with, you know, uh actually being in the NFL doing doing their sobriety. But then we started doing the job safety stand downs. That was a big thing that you learned uh back there with the dude from New York. Yeah. Um, because he was doing uh big jobs, job safety stand downs, and now uh we didn't really know how to how to do that either. We were like, oh, we gotta buy speakers and microphones. What's the agenda gonna be? What are we gonna talk about? We're gonna raffle off t-shirts and and and truthfully, like we didn't even get in the way. Like Penta reached out to us, you know, they're having doing a job safety stand down. They literally just called us, invited us out. Like we just stayed out of the way, and and eventually it came to what it is tuition to do today, what it is, you know?

SPEAKER_03 9:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:02

Um but the jet let's talk about the the safety stand down, like that we what we talk about when we go.

SPEAKER_01 9:07

Yeah, so like when the committee came together and we're like, all right, what are we gonna do? And we're like, okay, well, let's make stickers. Let's like just like you just said, let's do this. And it's like, yeah, but what's our goal? Like, what is what are we trying to accomplish? The end goal is to try to get our members the help that they need, right? So we've discovered, like, okay, the goal is to get help to the members that need the help. How do we do that? Right? What's what do we do? Well, they got to know about the help, right? And they got to know that there's that there even is help that exists. And it's like, okay, well, how do we do that? Well, we need to talk to them where they're at. We realize that these contractors, all these big jobs, have safety standowns. They usually do it weekly, right? So let's say every Monday morning, the whole job goes um to one location and they talk about ladder safety. And whenever it gets hot, they talk about water and they talk about stretching, like anything that has to do with safety. I'm like, well, that's the perfect time uh to talk about it. So let's do some safety stand downs where we show up and the topic is going to be mental health and and and uh substance abuse, you know, and and the the resources that we have. And you know, we just kind of showed up, and however many of us show up, it's always different. Like maybe there's two, maybe there's five, maybe there's six, right? Whoever from the committee, because the committee was also strategically made up of uh like rank and file people and also uh union staff, so agents and organizers. Because if it's all just rank and file, they all have jobs Monday morning, right? That they have they have their own thing that they have to be at. Um, but if it's all just staff, it's just people who are kind of being paid and directed to be there by their business manager usually, and there's not enough passion in the room. You need the rank and file. And so, you know, it's awesome when we do a safety stand down and the reps and organizers show up and there's two or three committee members that are actually on that job on the job, and then they get to come sit up with us, and we we basically are educating the membership that one, there is a problem that none of us are talking about, and it's mental health and substance abuse. Two, there is a solution to that problem, and we have it, and this is where you find it, this is how you get it. And three, if you are struggling, you can talk to your union and your union has your back, right? And so that's the message. It comes out different every single time because talk about the QR code that we created, right?

SPEAKER_02 11:21

So nobody, I don't think any other building trades, let's be honest, uh, has a QR code um that we created through all of our locals. That when you scan the QR code, it actually goes to everyone's MAP and EAP programs, right? And uh it's like a secret, nobody knows about it. You scan the QR code, it goes to Southern Radio Building Trades, it goes to your union, you click your union, and it'll show all the programs you have for mental health and substance abuse, right? Like, let's talk about that because I don't think anyone really even knows before we created this, yeah uh that they had this stuff.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

No, nobody knew, bro. And and I remember Eron was telling me he was like, uh after our first safety stand down, bro, I remember looking and we had something like a hundred hits on the fucking website because you could like track, you don't know who's looking at it, but you can track how many people how many hits. And now, bro, that QR code that Keith's talking about is the most viewed fucking page in and on our website, right? We have more members checking their EAP programs than people wanting to get into the fucking apprenticeship. How wild is that, bro?

SPEAKER_01 12:20

And in EAP, for anyone listening that doesn't know, EAP is a the employee assistance program or MAP member assistance program. So usually employers will have an EAP, your unions will have an MAP, and all that is is the portion of your health insurance that deals with mental health and substance abuse. And so for a lot of programs, like I know for mine, it's free, right? You can go there, you can get a counselor, you can get into a rehabilitation center, um, and it costs you nothing. And when we when the committee first formed, we're like, well, how can we track our progress? Like, how do we know we're making a difference? Because it's it's it's tough to track. Like, you save someone's life, you've just saved someone's life. Someone's dad, mama's mom, yeah. But you can't like mark that on a tally. Like, we don't have a list of lives we've saved, right? To know that it's working. And so one matric that we could look at is the utilization of the MAPs and the EAPs. And so I reached out to mine and I'm like, are you guys tracking like how much we're using it? She goes, Yeah, it's called the utilization report, and everyone has one. And I'm like, well, great. What how does that look? And she goes, Well, it's a percentage. And I go, okay, what's mine? And she goes, Well, 1% of your members utilize the EAP. I'm like, 1%. Now I know my membership pretty well. More than 1% needs the EAP. You know what I mean? Same here. And so same here.

SPEAKER_00 13:37

More than 1% could use it. Yeah, yeah, yes.

SPEAKER_01 13:40

And so I started reaching out to the other locals, and I'm like, hey, give me your utilization reports. And they were all very similar, between a half to one and a half percent. And it's like, we need those numbers up. We need people utilizing this resource.

SPEAKER_02 13:53

We pay for it. Yes. The member pays for it, the contractor pays for it. It's part of our package. Like, and we don't use it. We go to the dentist, we go get our physical, we get our checkups, we get all that, but we don't even use what's going to save our ours or our family's lives. Yeah, it could be for our kids, it could be for our wife, anything. I mean, it is there for us, the membership.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

And dude, I I know that obviously we all got fucking brothers and sisters on the job sites that will give us the inside scoop on what the fuck. Because I'll ask all the time, bro. Every job that I leave, and it's not just iron workers. You guys know I know everyone in all the different crafts. We all know people outside of our fucking crafts. And I'll be like, hey, what'd you fucking think? Like, how do you think the the the safety standout meeting went? They're all good. And you know, it's funny, dude, because a lot of guys will talk shit like, oh, you know, oh, these guys are in here fucking sharing their feelings. Yeah. And it's starting to become normal where guys are like, bro, maybe you should fucking call a therapist and get some fucking help. If we got a problem with these dudes coming here trying to save lives, yeah. What the fuck is your problem? Yeah. Right? And and and it's fucking changing, bro. And I I'm only gonna talk about us here, dude, in Nevada. Like, we are fucking changing lives. We are changing. I I at the Ace Ball Park when we went and spoke at that one. I think I told you there was a fucking random plumber, dude, guy I've never met in my fucking life, came up to me and he was like, hey, bro, you know, I follow the podcast, I follow you guys, it's dope. I don't know this motherfucker. Like no clue who this dude is. I couldn't, I couldn't pick him out up in a lineup today. Like, I just and he's like, You guys are fucking making sobriety look cool, bro. He goes, I never thought anybody could make sobriety look cool. He's like, You guys are just a bunch of fucking dudes who come out and talk, and I'm like, bro, that's the thing. You don't look at like look at the way we look, look at the way we talk, look at our fucking jobs, look at the fathers we are. We don't have to fucking really change that much on the outside appearance or anything to fucking be sober, bro. It's wild. And us carrying that message to the job site, I don't know any other fucking building trades, I don't know any other union in the fucking country that does it. Now I'm sure there's some that are out there. That doesn't mean that because I don't know, they don't exist, right? I just don't fucking know any. And uh it feels good to change slowly, and it's not that I am changing the culture, you guys aren't. We as a building trades are changing the fucking culture and construction, and we're people are more talking more and more about um the mental health piece of it. It's not just the sobriety piece, bro. Nobody a lot of guys are like, I'm not getting sober. Like, don't motherfucker. I'm not telling you to get sober.

SPEAKER_02 16:23

Yeah, you don't you may not be me. Like, the thing is, is if you have something going on up here that thinks you might be me, get it checked out. Yeah call. We I mean they literally ours is we have MD, you can call and like do a zoom, dude. You don't have to go to a doctor, like you could do it in your own closet where you're used to getting spun out anyways. You know what I mean? Go hide in the bathroom where you're used to being. Yeah, you know, go in the porta potty, do whatever you gotta do. It's it's it's suit no one knows.

SPEAKER_01 16:46

Well, I mean when you use the when you use it. Right. And and we've we've developed uh a culture of suck it up, shut your mouth, don't be a bitch, deal with your shit. And I've even seen even recently, like um a lot of these you know influencers on Instagram, these these dudes that promote that, you know. You're a man, don't go to therapy, don't fucking, you know. And that is what's driving the epidemic. You know, we're we're not creating a solution for a problem that doesn't exist. It's been there. We're finally trying to create a solution for something that is has not only existed, but is escalating. The amount of construction workers that die by suicide and die by overdose is staggering. It is fucking staggering. It is such a serious problem. So that that old mentality of just shut the fuck up, do your job, be a man, and quit your bitching is killing us.

SPEAKER_00 17:37

You can still do here's the thing, not to cut you off. I'm sorry, but I have my fucking thoughts and theories, and they're just mine. That doesn't mean they're fucking right, okay? Just last time I said that I got fucking attacked. However, yeah, again, I will say, dude. Yeah, shut the fuck up and do your job. Suck it up, yes. Yeah. But know that there's an outlet too. Don't fucking cry to the guys that work about your fucking feelings if unless you feel really comfortable. Yeah. So that does, yes, bro. Don't be a fucking crybaby at work. Don't do those things. You're 100% correct. And I think the definition of what that means needs to change. Sure. Yeah, still show up every day and on-time. Of course. Suck it the fuck up if you're whatever. You're in the industry for a reason. Yes. But there is fucking help, dude. Yes. Talk to people, talk to the professional. Don't talk to the guy who's fucking who's already eaten your lunch. Yeah. If you go and tell the guy next to you that your old lady's fucking cheating on you and shit, he's gonna laugh at you. And then he's probably gonna go and try to fuck, you know. And that's the cool part about the rig committee, right?

SPEAKER_02 18:37

It's the joke we tell them. And they and even the contractors say, hey, these guys are gonna hang back for 20, 30 minutes. If you see them, come go give them a shout, right? And that's us. Right. So that's the cool part too, is if you find someone, like for me, I I just got a text message yesterday from a member. Um, he's got four months sober. Dope. Um, and I got another text message um from another member uh that has seven months sober. And he didn't get that from me. He reached out to me and I sent him the program, I sent him the QR code, he went to the MEP or the AEP the MAP program and he got his own help. Right? But that's he reached out to me, he didn't talk to you know the superintendent on the job, he didn't talk to the foreman, he asked me for the help and I showed him the help and he took advantage of it, right? It's there's nothing that I did. Right. Absolutely nothing I did. I had no pat on the back. There's literally he's paid for what he took advantage of. Thank you. Yeah. Like, thank you. Right. To Vince, you saved your own life.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

We're not asking you to have feeling circles on the job site where you guys all circle up, right? That's not that is not what's happening here. But to understand that there are resources outside of your job site. And when the members see the head of the building trades, the business agent for the uh Glazers, the business agent for the operators, the business agent for the plumbers, all in recovery, all saying, Hey, we understand if you are struggling, there is an outlet, here's where the resources is. They're seeing their union leaders talk about issues that are that are killing them. And it's like a breath of fresh air. When we do those safety stand downs, you could you could hear a fucking pin drop. Yes. When we're up there talking, you should see all of these tough, strong, menly men and women and women are engaged. They are they are listening because they recognize the problem, and it's almost as if like in their mind, it's like, oh, finally, like finally, someone's talking about this. Because one of the things I say in them all the time is if if I asked everyone, you know, sometimes like we do some penta, there's big, there's a hundred, a hundred construction workers out there. And we say, uh, if you've been affected by mental health issues or substance abuse, whether it's you, your kid, your spouse, your parents, if I asked you to raise your hand if you've been affected, every single fucking hand would go up. Everyone. Everyone has been affected some way, whether if it's even if it's not you, but someone that you love or someone that's close to you, you've been affected by it. But we don't talk about it, right? If you rolled your fucking ankle and your your ankle was swollen, it was hurting, these guys, they'll tell everybody, my fucking my ankle's fucked up, right? My elbow's fucked up, my back hurts, right? That we hear that all day long. There's no, there's no issue with that, right? But when you start talking about what's going on between our ears, all of a sudden it's taboo. You can't talk about it. There's a stigma. And uh, one of the biggest um things that I think our recovery committee is trying to do is just break that stigma. Look, we can talk about it. Let's talk about it. We have the resources to fix it. Um, we did our first recovery night, we've done a second recovery night, we'll do a third one this year. I think we're planning on trying to maybe do it in May. Yeah. Uh, and that's just uh a yearly thing where we try to bring the membership in, we serve them food, we have some speakers, um, and that's just part of getting that message out, you know?

SPEAKER_00 21:43

Uh you talk about the stigma and shit we're not supposed to talk about. We've been on job sites, and I know we all know the story, but it's good to tell it on here of like we'll hit a job in some of the old school construction, like superintendents and shit, like these guys are gonna talk about some shit that's fucking personal. We probably shouldn't do it like you're half talk from last night, bitch. What the fuck? You shut the motherfucker. I think you need to come have a conversation with us. Let's go talk in the corner. Yeah. Because he's fucked up. I mean, bro, I know exactly what y'all were talking about.

SPEAKER_02 22:12

It was wild. It was definitely that was a wild one. He worked out.

SPEAKER_01 22:15

Yeah, he basically told us this is a personal issue. So if any of the if anyone wants to talk to you, that's fine. But go over there in the corner. And I looked and it was this dark, it was dark out, obviously. It was in the morning. This dark ass corner. You'll be over there. No, like that's what we're trying not to do anymore. Like break that stigma where we have to hide about it, you know? And and I get it. Members, people, they're uncomfortable with it at first. They don't want people to know that's fine. That's why we have the QR code. But you shouldn't have to be, is the point. Like, we should be able, if comfortable, like we should be able to talk about it out in the open.

SPEAKER_02 22:47

Like, there's one job site right now that I know of, dude, that uh that is it is all recovery based, man. Uh I I went to that job. Uh the plumbers and pipe fitters out here are killing it with sobriety and mental health. Mad love to 525 out here, bro. They are they have a there's a meeting today, they have a great meeting. Uh, but one of their job sites is is almost uh I'm gonna say 80% um guys in the program, like guys and girls in the program. And uh I I thought it was awesome. I walked up, I was like, holy cow, dude, it is cool, man. And uh like like we said, like leadership, the union leadership right now in Vegas, there's there's quite a few of us um uh either in sobriety or or that are covering mental health, right? And I like you said, man, when guys walk on the job and they see that our actual their actual leadership cares about them as a whole, not the contractor, right? Because a lot of people think that they work for the contractor. They forget that they're part of that they work for the union and the contractor is their sub, right? So I think, and and a lot of the contractors out here, they do take care of the membership outside of what the members do. The union contractors do, yeah. Outside of what the union does, right? They take care of them, give them two weeks, they get their paid holidays off and all that. They they get a little extra. But the main thing is is uh the the union members know now that it's not up to the contractor that their union actually has a plan that can save their life. Right. And I think even for me, like before you and I, or we created this committee, I didn't know anything about MAP. I didn't know what I didn't even know what the word rank and file meant.

SPEAKER_03 24:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:12

And I didn't know what employee assistance program was, I didn't know what member assistance program was. And I think that that's part of our own stigma as leaders, right? To let the membership know, like we say these weird ass words, but it's our job when we go to those recovery committees, those those safety standouts, to let them know, like these aren't hidden words, these are for you. Rank and file is us, that's what we that's what we were in the field, right? But I think like our job now is with the recovery committee, what we do now is we let them know, like, these aren't top secret words. Like these are words that we can break down for you, and this is what they do, right? And I think uh even when I was in the field for so long, I didn't know. I literally did not know what rank and file was. Yeah, same.

SPEAKER_00 24:50

And uh I didn't know what the building trades was, I didn't know what the extra.

SPEAKER_02 24:53

And I'll be honest, Vince, since uh I since I've been agent, right? Like uh local 669 is is very active, right? Fuck yeah. They're very we're a small local, we're very active, but uh I didn't know what Southern Nevada Building Trades was. And that's me neither. And I and I don't think I mean I'm a very active union member before I became who I am now before I was elected to this position, but um you know, Vince, mad props for what you've done for building trades, for you putting out, you know, what you do for building trades, what building trades does for the membership, what it does for these job sites, um all the things that we do. You know, uh it it's just crazy to me to think like um besides Southern Nevada building trades itself, what the membership actually did not know about their own local.

SPEAKER_01 25:34

Well, and that's a reflection on leadership. Uh and I hate it. It's us, it's uh it's us, it's literally us, right? It's you guys. It's a reflection on leadership. Well, what I mean is is not knowing. Yes, right. All those years of not knowing is a reflection on leadership, not fucking teaching the members what we do, right? And so the the goal here, you know, it's it's crazy to think that there is so much that happens with with our organizations that our memberships have not no idea about. And it is our job as union leaders, as labor leaders, to educate our membership on what is happening. And the fact that for decades our membership doesn't know what the building trades are, doesn't know what a PLA is, doesn't know what's in their health insurance, doesn't know how their pension works, is a reflection on the poor leadership of the of the leaders that came before us, right? It is our job now that we are in this position to remember and understand because I understand it's easy. You we get lost in what we're doing and we're just doing what we're doing. And we're like, you know, the members will figure it out. They they won't figure it out unless we teach them. Yeah, they have to do that. We have to teach them, right? And forever, you know, my job as a union leader is to improve the lives of my members and their families. And typically we do that through contract negotiations. The best way to improve my member's life is to make sure he gets more money. The best way to improve my member's life is to make sure he has health insurance is to make sure his working conditions are done. But what we have forgotten, in my opinion, is the person, right? The human being that my member is. And it doesn't matter if we negotiate the greatest contract and conditions, if they are then going home and taking their own lives, we have failed. We have failed as leaders addressing the real problems and issues of our members. You know, when my member is in the hospital, I go to the hospital and I visit my member. You know what I mean? Because that's the human being that that's there. And uh union leaders, I think historically, we have done a very poor job at connecting with our membership on a human level. Yeah. You know, and that's what this committee does. And what's crazy is the building trades has lots of committees, right? We have the apprenticeship committee that's focusing on making sure our apprenticeships are are growing, are growing, right? We have the organizing committee that's making sure that you know our members are getting the hours and we're organizing markets. We have the women's committee to make sure that the women within our ranks are getting a fair shot and are getting the hours that they deserve. Typically, everything is about hours and growing. This committee is about saving lives. That is it. There's no dues that come to this committee, there's no money, there's no the this committee is solely focused on saving lives. And that's why I love it so much. This is the most expensive committee. Yeah, yeah. We blow some money, bro. We started talking about money on like we're like, yeah, we're like Darren Waller. We could let's pay for that. You know what I mean? Max Crosby, let's pay for that. No, you can't put a price to the camera.

SPEAKER_02 28:19

And I think and I think all the business managers and the e board understood that whenever you brought that to them, right?

SPEAKER_00 28:24

At first we didn't, and then you did. I was like, fuck, because I wasn't sober. I was like, what the fuck you mean? How much? And I was like, Jesus fucking Christ, bro. This event was like $50 fucking thousand dollars, like $65,000. And I was like, what's the return on investment on this shit? You're like, it's a life. Not knowing that I was gonna be the one that fucking stayed. It was your life. Well, me and a couple guys, there was a couple guys that came out sober after that fucking first recovery meeting.

SPEAKER_02 28:49

And even if you think about it, like uh with the district council 16, how we have a union meeting there or we have an AA meeting there, a 12-step program, and then you know, 525 has one. And I'm gonna tell you right now, man, I I go to the 525 meeting on Sundays, bro, and and that that started because of the recovery committee. True. That meeting started because of that, right? They they opened their doors at their hall because of that. And I'm gonna tell you right now, that meeting, right along with ours, is capturing lives, whether it's union members or just member normal people in sobriety, like in in life, you know, they show up to that hall. It's a union hall, right? They show up to your union hall, they show up to 5255, and it is changing people's lives, man.

SPEAKER_01 29:27

I I it is insane, man. It's crazy the the comparison, the similarities. Like, you know, I've obviously I've been sober for 14 years, and the recovery community is exactly what we want our union membership to be. Yeah, when you when you are involved in that recovery community and I get a flat tire on the side of the road, there is 20 people I can call that will drop everything to come help me. That's what unionism needs to be. That's what how we need to treat our union brothers and sisters, and we've lost that in our trades. And if we can somehow manage to combine those types of communities, it's just gonna make our union stronger. It's gonna make our membership stronger.

SPEAKER_00 30:04

Absolutely, man. Absolutely. Yeah, dude. It's it's uh the numbers are crazy to see. Like, and again, dude, the the numbers of like the the it's a cycle, right? And I didn't realize it until I started doing the work with you guys, where it's like, well, we gotta get to the root of the problem. Why? Why did these thoughts happen in our heads? Right? What causes us to overdo it? And I had a conversation with a with a a guy who's a general contractor yesterday. He called me on a Saturday, we were supposed to go to the punk rock fucking museum. And um we were talking about different things, and and one of the things I told him was like about work, right? And I was like, he's like, dude, there's nothing on the fucking backlog, I'm getting worried. And I was like, Yeah, and I was like, that's when the mental health problem starts. Then once the mental health problem starts, then the drinking starts because you fucking feel like shit because you can't provide for your family. Whether you're a man or a woman, none of that sh fucking matters. Right. If you're if you're the sole provider and you don't have work tomorrow, or you don't know when the fuck you're gonna be able to be on the next big job, you start to fucking stress, you start to worry. Are you gonna have to fucking boom out? You're gonna have to travel for work, what's next? You know, um, who's gonna who's gonna take my kids to school if I have to travel? What happens now? Like a bunch, like life starts fucking lifeing. That's the part you really can't just suck up, right? You're you're just you you you try to figure it out. So then you start fucking drinking or using or whatever your vice is, and then next thing you know, to shut this thing up, yes. And then next thing you know, dude, when that doesn't work or whatever, motherfuckers kill themselves, right? Or or something. And it's like I used to think that that's like a weak way out, bro. And me and Keith talked very little about it, but like suicide's a big fucking deal, bro. And some people, there's help out there, and and I don't know enough to speak on it, but I know enough to know that the root of the problem is when you feel like you can't provide or protect your family or something, that that's when the fucking shit starts going on.

SPEAKER_01 32:01

Yeah, and you generally, you know, you feel like your family would be better off if you're not here. Some people think that when that thought starts creeping in, that's that's dangerous. And that's wrong, right? It's it's not it's not true.

SPEAKER_00 32:14

I I don't know, and not to fucking sorry, but it's like I don't know how many people have called me. I can't even tell you because I used to keep track, like, oh I helped this guy, I helped this guy. Then you just don't give a fuck anymore because you're like, I can't believe I've helped this many people. Not in a negative way, it's just like you're just here to provide the service. But I had one guy call me with a gun in his fucking lap, bro, crying the whole nine, and he's like, he said something along those lines of like, my family would be better off without me. And I said, Are you really ready to have another man walk your daughter down the aisle? Are you really ready to have your daughters around a fucking stranger? Because your wife's gonna remarry, motherfucker. Like whether you like it or not, she could say no, you don't have a choice anymore. What the fuck is wrong with you? And I and again, I'm not the professional. We've done some trainings and stuff, but when you start, I was trying to like use logic and emotion both, bro, and it's hard because you're like, no, motherfucker, like your family is not better off here without you. You are fucking wrong. You are being selfish, you're only thinking about yourself because even if your wife leaves you or anything else, you still need to be there for your little girls, dude. These are your daughters, like what the fuck is wrong with you? And you start going in on them. And again, we're construction workers. Some people are like, oh, you shouldn't talk to them that way. You need to be nurturing. Like, no, dude, some people need that and you could feel it. And it's it was my boy, dude.

SPEAKER_02 33:37

He was like, it just depends on who you're talking to, right? Like you know that's your boy, right? And that whenever I I've been to some training, man, and and we used every wrong word in this podcast right now. Right. Uh 100%. According to them, right? Yes. Uh, but according to us, being construction workers, you know, this is this is the deal, right? If I don't know the guy, he's gonna have to call the program, right? He's gonna have to get, I'm gonna shoot him the QR code. But listen, if he's a member of mine and I know the guy, we're gonna talk it out. Yes. Uh, I'm gonna tell him about the situation that I had with my brother, you know what I mean? Nobody, uh, nobody deserves to make their fucking own brothers earn. No shit. Uh, nobody deserves to do that. And I had to do that, you know, and uh I lost my brother with suicide, and and uh I tried everything I could, you know, and truth be told, um, it's tough, you know, and uh, but nobody, and that's if that's the first thing I could say is man, is nobody deserves to make to design their own family, their own union brother, their own union sisters earn or be at their grave, dude. Nobody deserves that. And and there's a way out. There really truly is, man. I didn't think there was a way out. I never believed, dude. Listen, I was incarcerated, I did a little under four years in the penitentiary, and I thought that that's where I belonged. Yeah, that's where my head made me believe that I belonged, right? Until I got into a program, right? And I and I got, you know, my whole life changed, and now I can see myself in the position I'm in, helping members, you know, on a podcast. This is not this is something so wild if if you step back and look at me 16 years ago, you know what I mean? Uh leaving living in a concrete cell with a chrome toilet, you know, I'm on a podcast uh uh with Southern Nevada building traits, right? Like this is this is the the I get to reap the benefits of helping another member.

SPEAKER_00 35:12

Yeah, you know, and to that point, we were all there. We helped somebody we didn't even know. Remember? And we didn't use those, I wasn't like suck it up, bitch. Like no, it wasn't like that, bro.

SPEAKER_02 35:22

How do we get this guy there? We called everybody like from one person fucking to another.

SPEAKER_00 35:27

A stranger came to us and told us, bro. And I'll I'll never forget, dude. I think we all were there. Dude was like, I feel like you guys were sent from God. I was like, oh, just like bro, no.

SPEAKER_01 35:36

And he's like, This was at a safety stand down? Yeah, bro.

SPEAKER_00 35:38

Yeah, he broke down crying, bro. Uh uh after everybody left. He he did wait till it in respect. Fine, yeah, whatever. And we helped him out, bro. We fucking helped him out. We got him, we got him the help he need. He texted me the other day, told me him and his family are are are in um therapy and they're fucking thriving. Dude was gonna kill himself the night before. Dude thought about killing himself like legitimately. And he just did nothing.

SPEAKER_02 36:01

Just a member. Yeah, he's just a member.

SPEAKER_01 36:02

Well, and to me, it's crazy. You know, we we talk about this uh at the safety stand downs, but like when when someone dies on the job, you know, uh there's a tragedy, obviously. Uh the iron worker passed away at the Bellagio Fountains, right? Um it happens in our industry, and the end it's it's a somber moment. The industry almost shuts down. Everyone knows. Every GC, every sub, the word gets around, oh my gosh, you know, an iron worker or a laborer, someone passed away on this job site, they fell, they got crushed, they got cut, something happens, and everyone like stops for one uh at least a moment and goes, damn. You know, we we try to avoid that at all costs. You know, you see the signs everywhere. You know, make sure everyone who's walking in is walking out. The number one priority is that you go home to your family every day after work, right? I mean, that's always the goal. Um, but we're we're dying at six times that by suicide. At home. At home. And we don't even hear about it. It's like, how are how are there six times the as many deaths by suicide than on the job? And there's not like a there's not, everyone doesn't stop and go, how do we prevent this from happening again? OSHA doesn't get called and and analyze the situation to make sure it doesn't happen. We just kind of forget about it and move on. You know, no one even really knows about it. And so uh when you look at those statistics, when you think about, man, for every job site death, six of us are taking our own lives and we don't have a fraction of the resources put towards stopping those deaths as we do the job site ones. Now, obviously, yes, the most important thing when you go to work is that you make it home. But after you make it home, how are you gonna make it back to work? Who's putting the resources in to make sure you make it back to work and you're not taking your own life or overdose now home?

SPEAKER_00 37:38

And how many people are happy they get to go to work? How many times have you been in a dark place at home where you're fighting with the family or something? That's the relief. Yes, you're like, fuck it. Bro, if you're going to work to get relief from home, that you probably call the program. Yeah, yeah. 988. Call that number.

SPEAKER_01 37:53

And people ask all the time, like, well, well, what is it? Is it is it the construction industry that is making us sick, or is it sick people that are being attracted to the construction industry? And it's like, who knows, right? I don't know how you how you dice those up, but there's something there, right? There is when we're at the top of the industries for these types of problems, I don't really, it doesn't really matter why, right? Who okay? I mean, you you can try and figure it out and fix it, but ultimately, what are the resources that we can provide to make this stop, to fix it, you know what I mean? And I think our committee is committed uh to to to fixing it one life at a time. I mean, you think if we save, you know, one person, it's all worth it.

SPEAKER_02 38:34

I mean, and then you think like think about what 357's doing out here, you know what I mean? Like they created their own uh 12 steps. They have a recovery meeting. It's a recover they so their own local created their own committee, you know, uh, off of the recovery kidney from the billing trades. Yeah, and and uh it's an open meeting. Yeah, it's it's an open discussion meeting of mental health, substance abuse, crack, right, gambling, what it's it's all of it because they want to get out to their membership. And that was created because of this committee, right? Let's be honest. That that committee from 357 IBW out here was created because of building trades of the recovery committee. And I think they're doing well too.

SPEAKER_01 39:11

Yeah, and so now I know the laborers, so if we just run down it, you know, at the Painters Hall, there's a uh 12-step meeting every Thursday uh at 5 30. Um the Plumbers and Pipe Fitters have a 12-step meeting every Sunday at their hall. IBW now is doing them twice a month, uh, recovery meetings at their hall. I know the laborers, I think monthly are doing like a peer-to-peer support uh at their hall.

SPEAKER_02 39:32

And it's like, man, and 433's been doing one, I guess, for for years. I heard that too. For years. Like they have a meeting. Oh, yeah. Uh they have a 12-step meeting prior to their union meeting um at their hall as well.

SPEAKER_01 39:44

And so it's like, I mean, when you look at something like that, it's like, okay, things are happening, right? Things are happening. And um, you know, what I also say is uh we are we are giving back the the children of building trades members, we're giving them back their moms and dads. Yeah, absolutely. And that's that's incredible, right? There is no better work. Like when you know, we have as business agents and union leaders, like we have a lot that we have to do that the members just don't know about. And and you know, we we educate them, let's educate them, let's, but there's just so much. There's you know, we're doing contracts, we're doing wage schedules, we're doing grievances, we're doing we're we're going, going, going, going. For me personally, the work I do with the recovery committee is the most satisfying and fulfilling work that I do as a labor leader, bar nothing else. Like uh a head and shoulders above everything else. Yeah, the it's just so incredible.

SPEAKER_00 40:30

Bro, go ahead. Go ahead. No, I was gonna say, dude, it's uh it's a blessing, the shit that that we've been able to accomplish, bro. And it's not to see it stem is all from you two. You guys keep saying, like, oh, building trades, building trades. Like, yes, you guys are building trades, but this shit doesn't happen without you two guys, straight up. And I don't want to turn this into a fucking circle jerk. Well, now we're gonna have to edit that out.

SPEAKER_03 40:52

You can't over say circle jerk.

SPEAKER_00 40:55

You can say circle jerk.

SPEAKER_02 40:57

We're making it a longer edit.

SPEAKER_00 40:58

But with the but with the whole giving building trades is giving building trades kids their moms and dads back, that's a fucking fact. I shared that uh in the recovery meetings and and all that shit. Um I'm gonna start fucking crying, dude, because that's real shit. I didn't realize how being sober just didn't help my job, but helped that in in my home life and my personal life. Because I I said this a million times, dude. And I would treat my kids like they were first year apprentices. Nothing they could do was good enough. They were always fucking, oh my god, like you know, let's go fucking clean something. And and I would treat them like shit, bro. Straight the fuck up. It not knowing. I thought I was raising them. I thought that you don't realize how the fuck you raise your kids the way you were raised, and then you would what what you learn in working the program and getting sober and doing all the things was like, holy fuck, dude. You learn forgiveness too. You you let go. I I used oh my my you know, people you know you always hear, like, oh my parents, it's my it my my life is fucked up because my parents like bro, once you learn forgiveness, that goes away and you feel good inside. You're it like it's like a spiritual fucking uplift. And then you look at your kids and then you're like, holy fuck, dude, I've been treating my kids badly, like without even knowing. You just think you're trying to raise them the way you did, right? Like uh strict and like hey, no, my kids are my kids are polite, they have manners. No, your kids are fucking scared of you, motherfucker. Like you're trying to rule with an iron fist, and I'm not here to rape, but everyone raised their kids the way they fucking want. But it took when I got sober, I was like, Holy fuck, dude, this is a game changer. Like my son's everything, and I even talked to apprentices differently. Yeah, I I talked to everybody fucking differently, despite what people think.

SPEAKER_01 42:38

You know, I am a new man. And what's crazy too is uh I just got I just talked to someone uh a couple days ago, um uh organizer within the Building Trades, he's doing an interview with a judge, right? Because political season is coming and the judge is like, you know, well, how can we help your members, you know? And and it's a little difficult when it's judges, right? Because they're just you know following the law. They're supposed to just, you know, enforce the law. And he said, like, hey, if if one of our members comes in front of you with uh with an issue, like a substance issue or something, like don't lock them up, give them back to us. We have programs that that can help them. And he started going through what the recovery committee does. And the judge was like, Man, can can I get a panel of judges in front of you so you can tell them that? Uh and he's setting it up right now to where there's gonna be a panel of judges, we get the recovery committee in front of them to let the judges know, like locking them up and taking them away from how they make money and and putting these charges on them doesn't help them. You you are making the problem worse. No, because they're gonna get out and do the same thing. But the j if the judges know that there is an alternative to that, that there is a an organization or a program that they can send them to, and they have their their unions which are linked to their employment, uh advocating for them with programs that work, um, it spills it's I mean, it spills into the to the political issues that we do. Funding and state, you know, it takes away from state funding, all that. Like it's our funding, it's not theirs. Right. We're we are doing it, our members are funding it themselves. It's a group of people who are looking at the funding. out for each other, which is what the unions have always been is a group of workers who collectively come together and look out for one another. And that is what we need to get back to. And I think the vehicle that gets us there is this committee. And uh it just makes me super excited even talking about it. That's cool. I didn't even know. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's coming. You're gonna get an email. It's coming. Yeah, you you will be there because I already put your name in there. So uh and that that's what we're gonna do. And you know what? When it comes to those these types of things we show up. We show up. Yeah we do and that is that's the truth. I mean when we have the general contractors reaching out to us dude saying hey come to our job we do one and like wow that's great. We need you to come back next month. Oh we have another job over here we want you I mean we're the ones getting invited at first we were kind of like reaching out trying to find job sites we can get to we did one or two of them it's over that's a wrap now they want to say is Bombar literally uh they literally called me yeah this main safety guy reached out and he was like hey I was at the safety stand on over at Desert Fires Company and and I'd really appreciate you know because they have plumbers uh pipe fitters electricians uh and tin knockers yeah so they'll have all three contractors uh unions three unions there and they want us there so and you know what shout out penta penta bro yeah tony's been doing really good helping us out they've been putting letting us hey we can put your banners wherever you want put your information wherever you want they're the ones inviting us to all these all these jobs they want us in front of in front of the the workers on their job sites um and that's what we need we need the partnership with these GCs because they recognize the issues too they recognize they're the ones that see it they're there they see it they see the you know members not showing and that's a thing too like just for you know anyone watching you know the deal is is like we as normal human beings right we can see this we can see when someone stops showing up to work we can see when someone's wearing dark sunglasses when it's dark outside we can see this right it's our job as union members as brothers and sisters to ask them pull them pull them aside man walk when you're walking down the steps from the drug from from parking hey man is everything all right how's everything going at home eventually they're gonna open up yeah or they're gonna find someone that they're closer to that they can open up to that's the thing is we for years we've been pushing that aside oh yeah he's wearing dark sunglasses he always wears them no there's a reason yeah he there's a reason that we're wearing dark sunglasses right there's a reason we quit showing up to work there's a reason we're missing Mondays and Fridays those are those aren't typical holidays and that can happen to anybody I mean I remember I worked with a guy once um very religious person right very religious straight edge never did anything wrong never went to jail probably never got a ticket right um and he got hurt on the job uh hurt his back hurt his something goes to the doctor trust trust the medical system right the doctor says hey this is what you need um he wasn't realizing that he would get super sick once a month to where he had to leave work and he didn't know why you know like gosh I'm so sick and another worker said aren't you on those painkillers? Withdrawing and he's like well yeah but uh you know I needed extra ones I'm out and he's like yeah you're you're dope sick man you're withdrawing and he he didn't even know he finally realized oh my gosh every time I run out of my painkillers I get sick and he became super addicted passing out in the truck passing out in the meetings and he didn't do it on purpose he wasn't some drug addict right he wasn't some you know piece of shit person it just happened to him and in our industry you know one of the reasons why we got Darren Waller and Max Crosby our very first uh recovery night was because of the correlation between construction workers and athletes now we all think we're all athletes I am an athlete and I pass those athletes on to my children who are now super athletes the one is just dude bro insane but like if you're a glazer and you're up on that building and you're the one catching the panel or you're the one calling the crane that's your job and you got it locked in. If you miss a week because you're hurt and someone else comes in and does that job better, you have lost your job. You lost your starting spot that that is like losing your starting spot in sports. And so our members work through the pain for multiple reasons. One, they don't want someone to replace them. Two, the job's only another two months we don't there's not another job on the books after this one I got to get my money now. I can't be sick or I can't be out because of pain. So what do you do? You eat some painkillers and you go to work. And that is one of the biggest issues that we see right and and even in this town gambling I used to remember being an apprentice working with a journeyman we would get our paychecks on Friday we would do checkpool this is back when we had paper checks right you're doing checkpool and then every Friday everyone's taking that paper check and we're going to the bar. We're going to the casino whatever one was closest to the job that would because that's where we met and because they would give us free slot play or a free drink right and I used to remember Monday morning showing up as an apprentice in my journeyman being like hey can you loan me like a hundred bucks we just got paid on Friday. Lost it all right and if you want to if you want to talk about some mental health problems lose your fucking paycheck every week and that is a problem that happens that's not talked about enough particularly in this town.

SPEAKER_02 48:55

Vince Vince says it all the time like we we literally get a job to work ourselves out of a job. That's why we get it. Yeah like that's what we're doing. We're literally there to work ourselves out of a job and if you And what happens when we work ourselves out of a job we're hoping there's another one right or we're hoping that we have unemployment enough to survive until we can get another one or get on the road whatever it is. And that's where it all starts is between our ears.

SPEAKER_01 49:16

It's just such a a huge issue and I don't know I love you guys I'm I'm very proud uh of what we've kind of been able to accomplish so far and I cannot wait to see where this thing goes. You know we we all have our busy seasons right typically like contract you know when contracts are up we get super busy certain things happen and we get super busy um and so there's the ebbs and flows and I know that this recovery committee uh we just need to kind of keep it on the forefront another thing too like even the test site they want us out there on the test site right we just got an email from them.

SPEAKER_02 49:45

I mean they literally yeah they literally want us out there they're like asking us times and dates and how we're gonna get badged and all this right I mean ever it's it's amazing what it does.

SPEAKER_01 49:54

And so I mean if you're a member right and you're listening to this podcast and you think that you have a problem or or there's been something rattling around in your brain I hope you know that there's help out there that there are resources. If you call your I I'm pretty confident that any building trades union if a member reaches out to their business agent um regardless of what craft it is what affiliate they know exactly who to contact guaranteed. All all the reps all the organizers the leadership within the building trades understands how important the recovery committee and we have drilled it in their heads.

SPEAKER_02 50:27

Not all of them understood at first but they understand now because we are not stopping you know and even if you guys if you're if you're someone watching or listening right now like even you can go right to the Southern Nevada buildingtrades.com. It's gonna bring you right there go to the recovery committee click on it then you don't have to tell your agent your organizer anyone you don't have to tell the guy you're working to nothing just go on SNBTU.com click on it it's gonna bring you right there nobody knows shit they're not gonna know anything so and then and that's I hate to say it but you know a lot of us we're trying to open it up but a lot of people aren't there yet right that's right and I'm totally cool with that you don't have to be there but just know that we have something for you uh your local SNBTU we all have something there for you bro and and my phone's always on Dan's phone's on Vince's phone's on uh but that's that's what I think that's the reason we did the podcast let the rank and file the membership know and also the union leaders like hey if you're not participating get out of the way yeah get that's it look put your put your dress shoes back on right and and we'll keep our boots and we'll represent the membership but let us handle it like the truth is is uh that's what we do we want to make sure that we're saving everyone's not like just not not my local not your local we want to save everyone's lives yeah bro and again we're not trying to get people sober no people think the recovery committee is us trying to get them sober.

SPEAKER_00 51:40

No right we're trying if you have a mental health issue that doesn't mean you have a drinking issue or a drug using issue. It's a mental health issue.

SPEAKER_01 51:48

Right and it's very hard to separate those things right and so like yeah we talk about recovery and we talk about being sober and we talk about mental health there are people that have mental health issues underlying mental health issues that are are are forcing them to use that need medication.

SPEAKER_02 52:04

Yes I'm not a doctor that tells you you need that but we have doctors that specifically can prescribe you to what's going to save your fucking life.

SPEAKER_01 52:10

And then there's people that have uh substance abuse issues that have now given themselves a mental health issue right they're just tied together. And so maybe you have one maybe you have both but regardless of if you have one or both there's help. You know and if you don't have our numbers 988.

SPEAKER_02 52:27

Yes 988 to high 988 that is a super hot man that's a I mean honestly you can call it it's it's every language. Yeah click on whatever language you're speaking you know what I mean and give it a shot. I fucking love you guys man I love this fucking podcast I love my job I love this fucking building trades I love Pete Pete shout out Green Apple Studios Green Apple come take a bite oh clip it yeah bro but once again man it's it's this is not about sobriety this is about you know ranking letting the membership know like we there is somebody that cares about you. You don't have to go home and be miserable. You don't have to go to the bar every day you don't have to go home and kick the dog treat the wife like shit you know you can actually be a normal human being I don't know what normal is right but you can be let's go back to paper checks and cashing our checks at fucking Texas station.

SPEAKER_00 53:20

Checkpool remember you'd get fucking points and you'd spin the wheel I don't know if you guys ever cashed your check at the station's casino? It was wild wow the players cards were getting one up to go there broads that's iron workers created that bar what are you talking about rest in peace wow wow rest in peace fucking Texas station we gotta do like a vintage Vegas bro we should try to get uh Vegas poly C you ever see that ball dude oh bro we're looking up Brett Harris let's get Brett Harris the labor commissioner labor commissioner yeah next that would be awesome yeah you know what we're getting the uh sign to wrap up the fucking cameras are getting hot sun's getting sun is now up roosters are crowing my coffee me before I'm good to go fuck yeah bro thank you guys man Keith for inviting me man uh game box game box podcast we'll see you next time we'll see you see you guys later yep