People First Radio – April 04, 2024People First Radio – April 04, 2024
People First Radio
University student Gurleen Kaur shares her personal experience of psychosis, recovery, and self-compassion, while construction leader Rory Kumala explains how the Tailgate Toolkit supports workers facing substance use, pain, and mental health challenges. Together, their stories highlight the value of safe conversations, practical resources, and reduced stigma around mental illness and addiction.
0:00•5 Apr 2024
Psychosis, Construction Sites and Compassion: Support Beyond the Stereotypes
Episode Overview
- Psychosis is more than a clinical "break from reality" and can deeply affect daily life, safety, and independence.
- Recovery may include medication, questioning distressing thoughts, and accepting that life might look different while still being meaningful.
- Safe, non-judgemental spaces where people are treated as experts on their own lives can lessen shame and isolation.
- The Tailgate Toolkit uses mandatory on-site talks, supervisor training, support groups, and local resource packs to address toxic drugs, alcohol, pain and mental health in construction.
- Reducing stigma and treating addiction and mental illness as health issues can encourage workers and students alike to seek help earlier.
“The fact that you are standing right now and facing your struggles itself is a strength in itself.”
How do people manage co-occurring mental health struggles and substance use risks while trying to live ordinary lives? This episode of People First Radio brings together two very different stories that land on the same message: people need understanding, time, and practical support. First, University of Alberta psychology student Gurleen Kaur talks about her experiences with psychosis as a young adult.
She pushes back against textbook definitions, explaining that calling psychosis a “break from reality” misses how terrifying and exhausting it can be. She shares vivid memories of locking herself in her room for days, convinced someone might kill her, and the small coping tricks she used just to shower or leave her room.
Over time, medication, CBT-style questioning of her thoughts, and patient support helped her move towards what she calls a “not-so-perfect, perfect life.” Gurleen highlights the shame and silence in her immigrant family and stresses the need for safe spaces where people are treated as experts on their own lives.
Her reminder is simple and powerful: “Try to be a little kinder to yourself… the fact that you are standing right now and facing your struggles itself is a strength in itself.” The focus then shifts to the construction industry, where Vancouver Island Construction Association CEO Rory Kumala talks about the Tailgate Toolkit program.
Responding to coroner’s reports linking many toxic drug deaths to trades and transport workers, the toolkit uses mandatory on-site tailgate meetings, supervisor training, facilitated support groups and regional resource packs to address toxic drug use, alcohol and other addictions, pain management and mental health. Rory is clear that the aim isn’t to police workers’ private lives, but to reduce stigma, share concrete resources, and encourage people in the trades to reach out before a crisis hits.
If you or someone you care about is juggling mental health struggles or substance use, could a kinder, more open conversation be the first step forward?
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