Free resource will help truckers with mental health struggles

It’s no secret the pandemic incited mental health struggles for many.

And in trucking specifically, the added stressors of that period contributed to the profession landing on an unfortunate list – a top 20 for suicides in 2021, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Also troubling is that the trend has continued since then, despite trucking not making that list previously.

“Historically, drivers don’t make the list. Historically, drivers are quite content with what they do,” said said Ben Stafford, vice president of Workforce and Continuing Education at Lamar State College in Port Arthur, Texas. “They drive because they want to drive and they enjoy driving. So it was unusual to see them pop onto the list.”

Stafford added that what likely made the difference during the pandemic was drivers being away from family members facing serious illness, as well as facing their own difficulties while on the road.

“Service stations or food stops would say, ‘Man, we don’t know where you’ve been; you can’t stop here. We don’t know how contagious this is,’” Stafford said.

He also noted that following the 95 confirmed suicides among truck drivers in 2021 was an increase to 134 confirmed suicides in 2022 – which he described as the largest rise by category in the entire list. And with initial data out for 2023, it seems as though the troubling trend has continued even post-pandemic.

Stafford is doing more than simply tracking a trend, however. He is part of a project sponsored by both the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association and the American Trucking Associations that will provide a free resource for truck drivers needing help with mental health struggles.

“What we’ve tried to do is create a product specifically geared to commercial drivers that they can access for free 24/7 while they’re on the road, because it’s not readily possible for a driver traveling cross-country to find a mental health professional where they happen to be,” Stafford said.

He added that following interviews taking place this summer, the finished product will consist of vignettes featuring drivers and drivers’ families, paired with clips of a mental health professional talking about credible steps a trucker can take while alone on the road, feeling the same things described in the interviews.

“So it’ll provide both sides of the story,” Stafford said. “And I think it’s critical that we’ve been able to reach through (OOIDA and ATA) to real drivers who can relate to and will be related to by the drivers actually on the road – what’s it really like when you’re a thousand miles away and your baby is sick and you can’t be there?”

In addition to serving as a resource for truckers already on the road, this product will also be put to use in driver training programs in hopes of preparing new entrants to the industry for emotional challenges they may face on the job. The plan is for the tool to be available for both purposes this fall – and given that it will be the first resource of its kind, Stafford believes its impact on the industry could be significant.

“It will be a product absolutely unique on the market,” he said. “And our hope is to make it readily accessible … (so truckers) can download something and have some access to relief immediately.”

Of course, that aim ultimately extends to saving lives – and seeing that reflected in the industry losing its high ranking for suicides.

“Our hope is to see the whole category of truck transportation off this top 20 list,” Stafford said. LL