The emotional pain one carries when they lose a friend to suicide was undeniably present during the latest episode of \u201cIn the Bay\u201d podcast.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jason Bartanen rolled through a plea for the collision industry to address mental illness as he rawly processed the death of a friend to suicide in a video uploaded Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cEarlier this week, I lost my third friend since 2021 to suicide,\u201d Bartanen said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then he inhales. He pauses. He looks away from the camera and down.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He opened his mouth to talk several times, but words didn\u2019t come out. He closed his mouth, gave a shake of the head as his eyes glossed over with tears.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know any of them were struggling,\u201d he said as he regained enough composure to speak again. \u201cI didn\u2019t know any of them needed some help. I wish I would have. I wish I would have known. I wish they would have known how much I care about them and how much their friends and family do, and I wish they would have talked to somebody.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He asked that anyone struggling with mental illness talk to somebody. He suggested a pastor, rabbi, friends, family, or call the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTechnicians are not unlike anybody else in society,\u201d Bartanen says. \u201cWe\u2019ve got challenges at work. We\u2019ve got challenges at home. We have stress. Sometimes we just don\u2019t know how to deal with them. It\u2019s OK to not be OK.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Bartanen tearfully pleads with viewers to seek help if they need it. He reminds them they are not alone and that they matter.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe can do this together,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Every person on the planet has been impacted by some sort of mental health challenge either directly or indirectly, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a part of our lives, unfortunately,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Our culture will seek medical treatment for a broken bone or a sprained ankle, he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bartanen then asks, \u201cWhen our mental health is giving us issues and challenges and putting up hurdles, why wouldn\u2019t we talk to somebody?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n He also asks that viewers help others.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThose friends you\u2019ve been meaning to give a call, send them a text \u2014 do it,\u201d Bartanen says.\u00a0<\/p>\n He says if you\u2019ve been meaning to get together to watch a game, play golf, or take a vacation, \u201cDo it, it will be good for you,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mental health highlighted during CIC\u00a0<\/p>\n Andy Tylka, creator of \u201cBrake the Stigma<\/a>,\u201d told audience members of the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) meeting in May that 1 in 5 automotive professionals experience a mental health condition. He said suicide rates in the industry are among the highest, and 80% of workers say mental health support would improve their performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n Yet, only 50% of employees feel comfortable discussing their mental health, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Brake the Stigma helps raise awareness in the industry, along with connecting those in the industry to resources, hotlines, and mental health services.\u00a0<\/p>\n It also offers tools to employers to help them foster a mentally healthy workplace and advocates for change that prioritizes mental health in the workplace.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ben Chesterfield, general manager of Car Craft Accident Repair Centres in Queensland, Australia, also spoke at CIC\u2019s spring meeting about a shirt the Motor Trades Association of Queensland created to start conversations about mental illness in the collision industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fifty percent of the funding from the shirt sales supports mental health for trade workers, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The shirt has wheels, tires, and roads, and on the back says, \u201cDon\u2019t shut the bonnet on it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Bonnet is an Australian word for a vehicle hood.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter what you do at work every day,\u201d Chesterfield said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s tires, whether it\u2019s mechanical service work, whatever, you always shut the bonnet. But the message we\u2019re trying to get out is, don\u2019t shut the bonnet on mental health. Don\u2019t shut the bonnet on whatever\u2019s going on in your life.\u201d<\/p>\n Shirts can be purchased through the Motor Trades Association in Queensland here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n