The Mental Health Challenges of Being a Truck Driver A Look Into the Lives of the Unsung Heroes

Truck drivers are the unsung heroes of our society, and mental health is an important part of their daily lives. Join Chris Harris, Safety Dawg, John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions, and mental health educator Tammy Whelen as they discuss the mental health challenges of being a truck driver. Tammy shares her knowledge of why mental health is important and the resources available to truck drivers in Canada. Learn the importance of alone time, writing down your stressors, and talking to someone when you're feeling overwhelmed. Get the help you need to keep your mental health in check and stay safe on the roads. #truckdriver #trucker #trucking #truckers #truckinglife #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealthsupport #mentalhealthmatters

Tammy would love to hear from you and she can be reached at, 
tammywhelen@gmail.com
www.tammywhelen.com


https://bouncebackontario.ca/

https://livinglifetothefull.ca/

https://cmha.ca/

https://one-link.ca/resources/crisis/

https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/mental-health-services/mental-health-get-help.html

Your Hosts are:
John Farquhar
Summit Risk Solutions: summitrisksolutions.ca
1 226 802-2762
John@summitrisksolutions.ca


Chris Harris
Safety Dawg Inc: safetydawg.com
Chris@SafetyDawg.com
1 905 973 7056



Keeping it Safety Dawg Simple!
#trucksafety #truckinsurance #truckpodcast

Transcript

Tammy Whelen: 0:01

Welcome to the Trucking Risk and Insurance Podcast week.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 0:04

We are blessed to have Tammy Wheeland. Tammy is a mental health educator. What the heck are we having a mental health educator on the show for? Because our mental health is important and that of truck drivers, dispatchers, and everybody who works with us mental health is important and we need to talk about it. Tammy, Talks to us about why it is important and what resources are available for us here in Canada. Join us. Here's Tammy. Hey, Tammy Willin. Welcome to the Trucking Risk and Insurance Podcast. Can you tell our audience a little bit about your background?

Tammy Whelen: 0:50

Yeah, no problem. So first of all, welcome for having me. Um, I am a mental health educator. I've been a mental health educator for the past 12 years, and essentially what that means is that I travel or go to businesses, schools, agencies, uh, basically anyone, uh, who will listen. And I talk about mental health, mental wellness. Yep. Uh, suicide intervention. Any, any topics related to our mental wellbeing? Oh,

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 1:22

that, and you're talking to two guys that need mental help. Oh God. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.. John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: My wife says that I need a lot of help

Tammy Whelen: 1:37

and I, and I would say that everybody does. Yep. Everybody does. At different, uh, phases or uh, stages in our life. Yep. And, and, and that's the thing. I think that's the coolest thing about my job, is I get to remind people that, and I get to also remind people that we're not robots. We're human beings. Yep. And life is not perfect. Shit's not gonna go down the way we always plan. And, uh, we, we do, we have to roll with the punches. And sometimes that looks like us talking to somebody. That's not in our circle that might be able to help us, um, come up with a solution or figure out how, you know, what we're feeling, why we're feeling it, and, and come up with some strategies that are going to help us.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 2:25

Yeah. And I'll tell you a, a very brief story. Um, a close, uh, relative of mine confided in me that they went to their family doctor and Okay. Said, you know, I've got a lot of anxiety and everything and I really think I need. Uh, some mental help, uh, could you, uh, what would you suggest? Mm-hmm.? No. Um, all they did was send them for blood work and didn't make any referrals at all. And for anybody, I think to talk to their, uh, doctor and say, Hey, I think I need some help. I think it's a huge step. Absolutely. Absolutely. And not to get a referral I thought was a terrible disservice., yeah. Mm-hmm.. Tammy Whelen: Yeah. That's, that's interesting. But to be honest, it doesn't surprise me. Oh, really? In the workshop? Mm-hmm.? Uh, no. Only because in the past 12 years I've spoken to thousands and thousands of people a year. Many people share stories that are similar, where, um, you know, their family doctor didn't give them what they thought, uh, was best. Yeah. Some people are just given medication., some people are not given referrals. Um, and, and some people, many people don't feel comfortable sharing with their doctors. So that's also part of my job as well, is if, if we crush the stigma because we're open to talk about it, hopefully more people will reach out and get the help that they need. But in all fairness, the doctors, they're not necessarily. To do mental health assessments. Those are for specialists. Right? Right. Yeah. So I think there's a lot of education that needs to happen around that as well. But, um, I, I hope that your family member did get some help. There are a lot of resources that are available that you don't have to go through your family doctor and that are free. Which is cool, which, and the one thing that's cool since Covid is that, um, there are many more services available because of that, because, And you're gonna help us a little bit later on in the show and talk about some of those services, right? Yeah, yeah. For sure. Mm-hmm.. Yeah. Cool. Cause they're cool. We're fortunate, I think that we live in Canada where we do have a lot of services available, um mm-hmm. that we have to take advantage of. I mean, we're paying for them. Why should we suffer? Mental health is as important to me as my physical health is. Mm-hmm., uh, Tammy, you're talking to, uh, transportation people, largely, quite a few truck drivers. What does alone time do? Uh, as you probably understand, truck drivers have spent a lot of time alone in their little, uh, cab. How does that affect, uh, mental health?

Tammy Whelen: 5:21

So I'm not an expert in transportation. Um, so I'll say that right here, right now. However, you know alone time. Is good, but just like anything else, too much alone time. Yes. I'm sure can be in insulating, can be depressing, can cause anxiety. I'm sure. And I would say something that I've learned is, you know, your own mind could be your your worst enemy, right? We, we have a thought, a negative thought or an upsetting situation. And you know, having a long time gives us more and more time to ruminate, and maybe catastrophize, you know, some of the thoughts that we're having. So it can be, you know, something that is good because you can step away from a situation, think about it. But I can also see some of the negatives that can happen from spending a lot of time.

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 6:15

Yeah, I, I was gonna say, I've, I've, I spent 20 years on the road driving truck and, uh, operating a company from the steering wheel and, um, It, it, it was challenging in the beginning. Uh, I was very young at that age. I was, you know, just in my late teens and, um, you know, you, you're we're always surrounded by family, but you know, it was one of those deals where, hey, you gotta learn to get with the job. You gotta learn how to cope, you learn to deal with it, and, and you move on. Uh, and I'll be honest, I got really good at being alone and really appreciated being alone. But, uh, I know. Drivers that may be coming into this industry as a second career. Uh, you might be starting in here in your forties or something like that after having a job where you've interacted with coworkers for so long. Now all of a sudden you're not talking to anybody. You're not seeing anybody for hours and maybe days on end. Um, I'm sure that can be hard on, hard on everything that's going on, and then being away from your family for days, if not weeks at a time. I

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 7:19

mean,

Tammy Whelen: 7:19

being away from your family could be a good thing. Um, yes, , but it also, it also can be a negative, but, but you made a good point. People adapting to change. For the most part, none of us, like change. Change is, is challenging. Even if it's a good change, like, let's say, um, we're moving and we're excited about where we're moving to. The process gets to that place is very stress. It's a change. It's a welcome change, but it's also stressful and we all respond differently to stress. So people going into a new job, yes, they may be looking forward to it, but they have to adapt and adapting to being alone when they might have had coworkers to, you know, talk to all the time. I'd say that would be a huge adjustment. Absolutely. I know it would be

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 8:09

for me. No, and, and for myself, I think of my alone time when I was in the truck and sometimes the silliest little problem because that's all I thought about for the next two or three days. Just by the time I get back to my family, that little problem is now a monstrous mountain in front of me. Mm-hmm. that I don't know what to deal or how to deal with.. Mm-hmm.. Tammy Whelen: Yeah. I always, when I'm running my workshops, especially when I'm talking about stress, visually, if you can imagine, you know, several things that you're thinking about while they're in your head, they're all stressful. You're, your brain doesn't, not decipher the difference. But an activity that I would say that I would suggest to anyone watching or listening is when you have your breaks or your stop. Write stuff down, get it out on a piece of paper, have a notepad that you can get from Dollarama in your truck, in your cab, and write things down. Because I will tell you, most of the time when I write things down and I can visualize what I'm stressing about, it actually becomes real. So three things happen when we write things down. So number one, they become, So I'm thinking about five, six different things. I write them down, they become real. I'm like, oh shit. You know what? Why am I worrying about number six and seven? I don't need to do these things this week, so I'm gonna scratch them off my list, so to speak. Number two, once they become real, We can start to prioritize them, right? What do I need to do now? What do I need to do later? Who do I need to talk to to make this happen? Who do I need to call to make an appointment? You know, these sorts of things. Mm-hmm. and, and number three. As we move through that list that's now visual, that we're now prioritizing, we actually feel better when we go through these activities and they can be the simplest of things. The simplest of things. They could be grocery lists, they could be to-do lists, they could be, you know what? My sister-in-law's pissing me off and I write it down on paper. But then when I, when I read it, right? When I read it, I'm like, why am I wasting my time? Why am I wasting my, my energy on this? This is solvable, right? Yeah. And, and I think by writing them down, and this is just a non-professionals opinion, I've automatically done something. and as soon as I do something about any of my issues, even if it's a small step, like you said, writing it down, there's a piece of accomplishment that goes with that. Mm-hmm., I've, mm-hmm. started down the road of solving that problem. Yeah. Oh, I was

Tammy Whelen: 11:01

gonna, and there's, um, sorry to cut you off. Um, there's a study that was done. I don't, I don't have it in front of me, but they, um, this, this study was done on, uh, notetaking and, uh, writing things down or goals down. Yep. And what they noticed is that, let's say we pull out a Post-it note and the post-it note, we write down 10. That we need to get done today. Grocery shop. Take kid to the dentist. Drive my son to soccer. You know, basics. Mm-hmm.. Mm-hmm.. What they notice is every time you scratch something off your list mm-hmm., chemicals in your brain, light up, you feel happy, you feel accomplished like you just said, Chris. And so you feel motivated to keep moving forward? Yep.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 11:50

This is,

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 11:50

this is actually a task I'd heard about years ago and uh, and it's something I do quite regularly. My wife is, is the same way. It's a list, uh, uh, list of everything. You know, even, even getting ready to go on vacation, you know, it's thinking about, oh my gosh, what do I need to get done? You get all stressed out and, and write it. Write it down, and now you get those accomplishments as soon as you go. Yep. That's in the suitcase. That's in the suitcase. Yep. I took care of that. That's taking care of it. You know, I, I do it with, uh, with daily tasks, you know, phone calls that I need to make, you know, I'll do it the night before instead of stressing about it overnight. Oh, I gotta call this person, I gotta call this person. Oh, I gotta remember to call this person, write it down, and now all of a sudden I can. That's done. And I could make notes next to it to say, oh yeah, by the way, I left a message. I need to call 'em back again in a couple of days. And yeah, you, you get a sense of accomplishment and now you can walk away from your desk at the end of the day and go, wow, I got a lot accomplished today. Uh, feel better done. Um, see what tomorrow brings.

Tammy Whelen: 12:47

Yeah. And, and you mentioned before you go to sleep, this is also a good activity to do if you are tossing and turning before it's time to go to bed. Um, I'm not sure about this, so I'm throwing this out there. I'm assuming truck drivers sleep in their cabs sometimes, or a lot of the times. A lot of time, yep. Okay. So if that's happening, this is something that they can do before they go to bed. Um, oftentimes we toss and turn because of all of our thoughts, but if we take 10 minutes, 15 minutes, get up, write this stuff down, things that need to get done the next day. We will sleep better because we know that we've written things down. We're not gonna forget about them tomorrow. Mm-hmm., they're gonna be tasked. So that's something that I also suggest in some of, in some of my stress management workshops, is writing things down before bed and, and that will help us sleep better For sure.

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 13:41

Cool. Wish I'd known this back when I was driving truck. I'll tell you, it would've made life a little bit easier.. Tammy Whelen: Hey. We're different at different stages of our life. Mm-hmm., I, I'd like to think that I'm smarter and wiser now.. Yep. Yep. Um, no. I think anyone can learn at any time in their life if they're ready and willing to try new things. Mm-hmm. also thinking about being in a cab, sleeping in a cab, being alone for hours. We have technology today and, and that's the bonus of, um, you know, 2023, I guess, is the drivers today. Can use a phone. Mm-hmm., pick up a phone and call someone when you are maybe having a moment. Right. I don't know about you, but if I talk to a friend about something that I'm experiencing or feeling, usually they can bounce some good ideas off me. Sure, sure. Right. And vice versa.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 14:43

Yeah. So no, that writing things down is a great activity, I think. And as you said, it's, you can pick up a notebook pretty cheap at, uh, any of the, um, dollar stores or, uh, things like that. And of course, pens are readily available., everybody's giving 'em away.. See, look at them. I have my company Pin too,. John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: So, Tammy, what free resources? Um, if I was having an episode or if I was having some questions, um, or stresses in my life and I did want to talk to a professional, uh, first of all, of course they can always reach out to Tammy because this is what Tammy does, but what else is available as well?

Tammy Whelen: 15:35

Okay, so. Let, let's, let's break it down in, in a couple of different ways. So someone might be experiencing a crisis. So I'm gonna go back to technology. A lot of people share with me. I didn't know who to call. I didn't know where to turn. I will tell you right now that if you have a device, which I'm gonna say most people do mm-hmm. all you have to do honestly is Google Crisis Line. Okay? So that's the, the, my first. So crisis line, if you remember. Yeah. Google Crisis line. And it will, I'm, I'm telling you, you press enter and you'll see all of the numbers that will come up for you and with the drivers because of, again, technology being so great, it'll pick up local crisis lines where they're driving. So that's pretty cool, right? It's just like if you're looking up a grocery store, it'll look up grocery stores where you.. There are many other, um, resources. I'm gonna give you one. So I used to work at the Canadian Mental Health Association. I was there for 11 years as their education lead. And Canadian Mental Health Association is a not-for-profit agency and they help people, uh, with their mental wellbeing. All of their services are free of charge and they're across Canada, which is cool. Yep. So all people need to do is go to C M H a.ca and they can find their local branch, if they're in Winnipeg, if they're in Toronto, if they're in Cambridge, wherever they are, they will find a local branch. And tied to that is a local crisis line number. And I'll put it, so crisis. Yeah. A crisis might be someone having thoughts of suicide, but let's say someone is looking for a support for a family member for themselves. They can also check out C M H A for the services that they offer because they offer counseling and service LI services like that, free of charge. There's, I'm gonna mention a couple of more. Is that okay? Here

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 17:49

comes Well, yeah. And, and sure. Please links to all these in the show notes down below. Uh, so the first one was the, uh, Canadian Mental Health Association. Did I say it right? Yeah. Yep. Okay. Okay.

Tammy Whelen: 18:04

So then, um, the, and these are off the top of my head, but I'll send you a bunch so that you can Yep. Cool. Put them in the links. When you post this, there is a program called Bounce. Ontario now originally. this, uh, workshop or this program was designed for people and they did a pilot program in Ontario for people who are living with an, with anxiety or depression. It is not for people who are living or in a crisis, and it is C B T based, which is cognitive behavioral therapy based. Ooh, okay. It's a program that someone can go through, like a workshop over time and they will get assigned a telephone. So you're working through this program yourself at your own leisure. You're getting a telephone coach who's gonna do check-ins with you. You're gonna have work to do, and this is free of charge. So this is, and it's, it's, um, It's available to all Canadians, free of charge and you can self-refer. So they did a pilot project in Ontario, but when Covid happened over those years, uh, they received funding and now it's available to people across Canada.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 19:17

Cool. Yeah. Also the, a positive effect of Covid. Yeah.

Tammy Whelen: 19:22

And there have been some, I don't care what anybody says, there have been some positives that, that have come out of it. Sure. There's also a workshop called Living Life to the Full, and this helps people who are experiencing stress basically compartmentalize the stress in their life. So it's a course that you can take. It's free. Mm-hmm.. Alright. There's also a program.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 19:49

Um, okay. Hang, hang on now. Yes. Just before you go on, what do you mean by, uh, compartmentalizing this? Okay,

Tammy Whelen: 20:00

so the course I believe is between eight to 12 weeks. And during that time, they're offered virtually now and in person, and again across Canada living life to the full and a lot of cmha branches offer them for free in the workshops. So the weekly workshop, , it talks about stress, how to manage stress. And when I talk about compartmentalizing, I think about learning how to problem solve one, one step, one day, one problem at a time. Hmm. So again, if you think of our mind, yep. If I think about what I stress about in a day, um, it could be groceries, it could be getting my kid to soccer, it could be work, my work schedule being. But when I compartmentalize things, when I put things in my calendar. Yep. So it teaches strategies. It's a pretty cool course. I teach the course. Yeah. Um, it's a very cool course and it's offered free You, oh, go

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 21:05

ahead. Sorry John. I was gonna say, when you are teaching the course, is this in person or is it over the internet or can it be both? Both. Both.

Tammy Whelen: 21:13

Cool. People have the option. Yep. So Canadians could, in Google, again, living life to the full, they can find, uh, which branch is offering this program for free. And, and some organizations charge for it.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 21:29

Yep. Yeah. But when it comes to your health, whether it's physical or mental, You know, a few dollars. Really? Does it matter?

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 21:38

Oh gosh. Yeah. Well, well I got a, a scenario I, I'd, I'd love to throw it there on the basis of, so a company for instance, um, let's take a transportation company obviously, cuz hey, that seems to be what we do. But, uh, so company has a, a catastrophic event happen. Maybe they've had a, a very large crash. Possibly somebody has died, whether it be an employee or, or just a, a number member, another member of the Motor, Inc. Public. But that's one, it's had an effect on the driver, but it's also had an effect on people within the company. Absolutely. You know, um, you know, so, so this is something that can cause I imagine a lot of heartbreak with people and trying to get them back on staff. So what would, what could a company do? In order to bring somebody in or, or get somebody like yourself to come in and speak with the various employees to help them better cope and understand how to deal with this situation.

Tammy Whelen: 22:40

So that's a, a common, uh, situation because like I said before, life happens. Shit happens. Yeah. And unfortunately things like. Occur and And people are, like you said, heartbroken. Yeah. And may maybe even traumatized or stressed by a situation. So the first thing, the first place I would start is figuring out if the organization has an E F A P program, which is an employee and family assistance program. So a lot of larger organizations do have that, right? So if they do, you can actually reach out to them for them to have specialists come out and. To individuals on staff and, and they can also promote therapy. Now, for someone like me, I'm not a therapist, I'm not a psychotherapist, I'm not a psychologist. I'm an educator. Uh, some, many times organizations will have someone like come, someone like myself, come out to talk to the staff, to, uh, help with stress management skills or talk about mental. So there's different approaches, but the first approach I would say would be first and foremost, right, getting the e FAP involved, having them, uh, come out, talk to staff, talk about what has happened.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 23:57

Right, right.

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 23:58

I see a great opportunity here, Tammy, where you could be, uh, educating drivers on how they can cope, you know, with, with mental issues that they're dealing with on a daily basis. So from that educator approach, uh, now I know dispatchers well, there's a lot of dispatchers, Hey Chris, that probably need a lot of mental health there issues cuz you know, they seem to go off on drivers a lot.. Tammy Whelen: It's, it's, you know Um, I, and I, I can only imagine, um, I have gone to, I guess, three trucking companies in the past few years, and one was with Carmen Transportation recently. Yep. But, uh, just some of the stories that, that drivers, you know, talk about or share. You know, someone like me who isn't a trucker who isn't in that industry, I wouldn't have even have thought of the stress involved with the job. Yeah, right. Yeah. Um, getting yelled at, um, getting criticized. Uh, people always putting pressure or demands on, on the drivers because they need to be somewhere at a certain time. Mm-hmm.. Drivers are always, I'm, I'm guessing on, you know, on a high, but being on a high all the time is not good for our bodies physically and emotionally. So, and, and listen, people snap, and I'm not saying it's a cool thing, but I don't care what anybody says. People can only take so much and then they, they reach that breaking point, right? Yeah. We don't wanna go there. Uh, learning strategies is gonna help us., but that doesn't mean that we're never gonna, you know, we're never gonna go there again. Right, right. The most calm people, I'm sure. and, and that's just me speaking personally from what I've learned. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I was gonna say those strategies sounds like a great idea from a driver perspective, but also I, I think it would be very proactive for a company to make sure that they implement strategies from the internal side of the company who are working with those drivers and relating to them so everybody understands everybody's role and the stresses of each others that they. Uh, Chris and I talk a lot about many times where, you know, dispatchers should be cheerleaders to the drivers, you know, to help them. You know, boo boom, boom. Yeah. Go on Chris. Yeah, good job. Do your pre-Trump. Awesome. Good man. Hey, another accident free day. That's great, you know, but, but then there's all the other stresses of the day. You know, the, they're driving in the motoring public. You got these idiots who don't know how to drive on the highway, and then you show up at a customer, and even if you show up on time, Customer's in a bad mood. And what's he do? He takes it out on the trucker. That's, you know, got nothing to do with him, you know? So add in, again, all these stresses that you've been trying

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 26:35

to deal with. Well, and, and Tammy, there was a study done and truck drivers are number six out of 10. As rated as the most dangerous profession, how many deaths per a hundred thousand there are, and trucking is number six on that list. So truck drivers, whether they realize it or not, are in a dangerous profession every day that they drive every mile. It's a danger to them. And so doing that along with their job, as you said, being on time and, and sometimes it's shift work or, or not normal hours, and, uh, being away from family, there's a heck of a lot of stress for that truck driver. Absolutely. So Tammy, a company could reach out to you. One of the things I thought John was gonna go there when he started on his last question, if a company had, uh, a driver that was involved in a fatal crash, I've always recommended that before that driver returns to the road that they receive some coaching. Um, and. As John mentioned too, there could be other people within that company that could need help. Uh, and this is something that you would be able to do.

Tammy Whelen: 27:56

Uh, I would say first I would be contacting E F A P, the Employee and Family Assistance Program to get that person the help that they need because the EAP P has trained individuals, life therapists and counselors. That's not something that I do. Right. Okay.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 28:11

But there are many trucking companies.

Tammy Whelen: 28:13

They could reach out to me, they could reach out to me if they're looking for a work.. Okay. That is related to workplace mental health or Yeah. Mental health related subjects.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 28:25

Yeah. Yeah. I just, um, because all of my customers, uh, or I shouldn't say all, but many of my customers are the small trucking companies and they don't have benefits no. Uh, for their drivers, and they don't have these, uh, the things that the larger companies do. And hopefully companies make available, but, uh, you know, if I wanted to have a driver return to the road so I could call you, you could at least make a recommendation as to where I could reach out. Yeah, sure. And for the rest of the staff, I'll also,

Tammy Whelen: 28:57

yeah, I'll, I'll also say that I'm gonna email you a list of resources and feel free to share that with your clients. Yeah. Well, and I'll, I'm gonna, I'm gonna share a list of free

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 29:08

resource. And I'll include that in the show notes down below. Mm-hmm.. Mm-hmm.. Um, now if somebody wanted to reach out, Tammy, you do have your own website, right? And it is tammy wheeling.com or ca.com. Dot com. Yay. So anybody that wants to reach out to Tammy now? Yep. Tammy, what we are just heading up, uh, or we are about to conclude this episode. What else should the listeners and the viewers know about mental health or about Tammy?

Tammy Whelen: 29:45

Alright, so , you can learn less, more about me on my website, so I'll leave that there. When, when we talk about mental health, what I wanna leave you with is remember that we all. Have mental health, right? Some days are good, some days are not so good. But when our not so good days are turning into weeks and months, sometimes for people it's even years. We need to reach out. We need to get some help. And, and to add to that, getting help talking to somebody is not a weakness. And this. The one common thread that I continuously hear that it is seen as a weakness, and that is why I have this job, is to remind people it's not a weakness. It's not a character flaw, it's not a defect and mental illness in general, it's not a personal choice. People don't wake up in the morning and say, Hey, I'm gonna have a little bit of depression today. Mm-hmm., you know, it doesn't work that way. We're human beings. We're we're faced and dealt with a lot of cards that we don't necessarily. And the only way that we can move forward is to keep talking about it. Mm-hmm., try and get the support that we need and, and ask for help. And, and sometimes, most of the time it is challenging to ask for help, which is why we need to keep talking about it.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 31:07

Yeah. It's hugely important. I mean, in our business there's road rage out there. Road rage incidents happen daily., and that to me is a sign of mental health. And hopefully most of the road rage, rage incidents are not my truck drivers, but the, the four wheelers. However, I do know of truck drivers that have, uh, in your words, lost it, uh mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.. And it's unfortunate, but.

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 31:37

It sounds like a, a great opportunity for companies is to contact Tammy and, and, and set up a workshop, an opportunity to discuss how to better manage these issues that, that you may have, whether it be in the organization or with the drivers, uh, how to cope, how to deal with it. And then in the event that you have a situation, you would have resources to then take and implement an action.

Tammy Whelen: 32:03

I think it's also important for organizations, for companies to show and prove to their staff, to their drivers that they care about them. Yes, let's honest. Any company is nothing without their staff. Exactly, the staff makes the company, so why wouldn't you invest in them? Why wouldn't you in invest in educating them, in supporting them, in giving them time off whatever it is that your employees need?

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 32:33

And I can vouch for Tammy because I met Tammy at the Carmen Transportation truck driver meeting this year, and she did a great job. And she's a, a very well spoken presenter. So I, and it was very well received by the truck drivers because I was there watching and that's when I said, Tammy, would you please come on my show ? So Tammy,

Tammy Whelen: 32:57

that was fun. And you know what? They were engaged, which was, uh, nice. I'm not gonna lie, I was a. Intimidated, uh, going up on that stage because it, it was prominently men and in the back of my mind, I was getting my anxieties, my stress, you know, how am I going to relate to what they do? But it all boils down to we're all human beings. Yep. Yeah. And, and we all experience

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 33:22

stuff. Well, Tammy, uh, Carmen Transportation has been a customer of mine for several years now, and I can tell you the feedback was great. Your presentation was very well received. I mean, you probably saw it, the drivers were engaged when you were on the stage and it was awesome and that's why I really wanted you to come on the show cuz I truly believe we have to keep talking about truck driver mental health and about everyone's mental. But particular in my industry because it is a stressful job, so we need to help. All right, Tammy wheen.com. Tammy, thank you so much for coming on the show. Yes. Thank you very much.

Tammy Whelen: 34:04

Nice to meet you. So nice to meet you, John. And Chris. Nice to see you

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 34:07

again. Good. Thank you. And Tammy, thanks so much for coming on the Trucking Risk and Insurance podcast. The resources that Tammy had mentioned throughout the episode are all in the link down below. Reach out to Tammy. She does a great job at Education of Mental Health and it's something that I think we can all benefit from. Thanks so much. See you next week.