Wisconsin Laborers Union Creates Support Program for Troubled Members

Walter Keller, a Laborers union member, works at a job site. The Wisconsin Laborers District Council is launching a peer support program for workers facing challenges with mental health, stress or substance abuse. (Photo courtesy Wisconsin Laborers District Council)

A Wisconsin construction union is launching an organized peer support program for its members who need help with addiction, substance abuse or mental health challenges — only the third program of its kind in the U.S.

The program was announced Wednesday by the Wisconsin Laborers District Council and dubbed LEAN — short for Laborers Escaping Adversity Now.

People in construction say the nature of their jobs can make it hard to face up to serious problems.

Kent Miller, Wisconsin Laborers District Council president and business manager. (WLDC photo)

“There’s this stigma that’s out there,” said Kent Miller, president and business manager of the union’s Wisconsin council. “It’s this physically challenging job, and you think that you’ve got to be tough with everything else, right?”

With LEAN, “we’re trying to break those barriers,” he said, “and make sure our members know that it’s OK to ask for help.”

Three union members have been selected and undergone training to work as the Wisconsin union’s first full-time peer support specialists.

“[They] are card-carrying Laborers that have first-hand experiences with recovery and working in the construction industry and with some of the challenges and stresses that working in the industry poses,” Miller said.

LEAN has established a round-the-clock hotline members can call if they need help, Miller said. The peer support specialists will be making the rounds of job sites and Laborers union halls to introduce themselves and distribute flyers explaining what they can offer.

The Wisconsin council represents 10,000 members of the Laborers International Union of North America — LIUNA. LEAN was started at a LIUNA chapter in Massachusetts, then replicated at the union’s St. Louis branch.

Laborers work in a variety of jobs alongside many other trades — building highways, working on pipelines, in landscaping and in asbestos removal, to name just some.

Some jobs are seasonal, with long layoffs during the offseason that can create financial uncertainty, giving workers the incentive “to get as much hours in as they can during the bulk of the construction season,” Miller said. Those long hours can take workers away from their families.

“Mental health and substance use challenges can affect anyone,” he said. He counts a half-dozen or more suicides among Wisconsin Laborers members in 2025 alone.

Wisconsin union members learned about LEAN at a union conference a couple of years ago. “When we heard about this program, we were just like, we’ve got to move forward with this,” Miller said

In 2024 the union arranged for people involved in the St. Louis program to give a presentation to the union and management trustees who jointly oversee Wisconsin Laborers Health Fund, which manages union members’ medical benefits.

“We as a fund really felt we needed this,” said Matt Marcellis, a management trustee for the Laborers Health Fund.

Marcellis is executive director of the Allied Construction Employers Association, which represents the construction employers who contract with building trades unions, including the Laborers.

“Construction workers — they’re kind of a unique breed,” Marcellis said. “They’re a group of people used to working hard and not accepting a lot of help.”

Since deciding to launch the program in Wisconsin, the union has spent more than a year laying the groundwork.

The logo for the Laborers union new peer support program. (Courtesy Wisconsin Laborers District Council)

LEAN is supported through the union’s health fund. Its costs are covered by a 5-cent-per-hour contribution from each member’s pay that is part of the negotiated pay and benefits in the Laborers contracts.

The Laborers have an Employee Assistance Plan that provides counseling and other help for members. LEAN doesn’t replace those services, Miller said, but offers members a pathway to EAP services or an alternative for help.

Peer support specialists “can help point people in the right direction of the resources that we already have,” Miller said. “But if they’re not comfortable in going that direction yet, just talking with somebody, talking with our peer support specialist, will be a good first step.”

The first three peer specialists live in different parts of Wisconsin, giving the program coverage throughout the state. “Depending on how utilization is, and how the program takes off, if we need to put on another specialist, we will,” Miller said.

Conversations with the peer supporter are confidential and can go at the pace that the member is most comfortable with. “They’re going to give you the information, so people can feel more comfortable about making that informed decision on what that next step looks like,” Miller said.

LEAN has a webpage for union members with a map of Wisconsin’s 72 counties that members can use to find resources available in each, from hospitals and clinics to local 12-step group meetings, Miller said.

The peer support specialists have been visiting the state’s hospitals and clinics and assessing what they offer, so they can more easily refer people to the right providers based on the specific needs a member has when seeking help.

“To get into some of these programs there’s a waiting list, there’s a bunch of challenges, and there’s also concerns about the quality of outcomes,” Miller said. “We want to make sure that, if we’re steering our members to certain hospitals and clinics, that they’re the ones that are providing the best outcomes for our members and their families.”

Wisconsin Laborers union breaks new ground with peer support for troubled members was originally published by Wisconsin Examiner.