Off The Clock Toolbox Talk

TradesPodcast.com

Men forging health in the unregulated drug crisis, through real f**king talk.
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Top 10 Off The Clock Toolbox Talk Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Off The Clock Toolbox Talk episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Off The Clock Toolbox Talk for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Off The Clock Toolbox Talk episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

CSO Shane's Story

Off The Clock Toolbox Talk

06/17/24 • 38 min

CSO Shane Sewell (different than Shayne’s Story) takes us on his heart’s journey from an 8-year-old with an invisible disability and an abusive parent, to an adult inner life that was continually erupting with low self esteem and feeling like he wasn’t good enough. Shane relates to many with tales of public school failure, difficulty fitting in, and eventually living a life that centred around substance use. Shane’s unconscious trauma responses, that outwardly appeared in his drug and alcohol use, caused the loss of his first marriage and brought him to a place where he couldn’t even carry on basic life functioning. With no other options, he entered treatment at Maple Ridge Treatment Centre and began putting the pieces back together. Eventually Shane found a new partner whom he credits with helping him recover. Together they had a daughter, and Shane began noticing that he was doing all the same things to his family that his dad had done to him. A return visit to Maple Ridge Treatment Centre gave Shane the tools and recovery capital he needed to build a life that had meaning for him. He found that meaning by helping others through his work as a CSO, which feeds his soul as much as it feeds his family.

Thank-you, Shane, for helping us understand through our hearts, which sometimes work better than our brains.

Off The Clock Toolbox Talk
Men forging health in the unregulated drug crisis, through real f**king talk.
Learn more about the podcast series at TradesPodcast.com.
Please give us your honest feedback by completing our anonymous survey at tradespodcast.com.
You'll be given the opportunity to enter our monthly draw for a $200 grocery card.
Thanks for supporting Off The Clock Toolbox Talk.

Shawn's Story

Off The Clock Toolbox Talk

04/23/24 • 37 min

Ironworker, Shawn Underhill, joins Daniel and Karen to talk about his journey through problematic substance use and addiction. From Shawn’s early days smoking pot as a teen in his first construction job, to navigating problematic substance use in camps up north, to using to get through pain, grief, and exhaustion, Shawn demonstrates how recovery is anything but a straight line. Daniel and Shawn discuss how, on average, most people addicted to opioids struggle with that addiction for 15 years, but they do recover, even though it typically takes multiple attempts.

The recurring theme of Shawn’s story is his mom’s constant voice, in her life and death, urging Shawn to access help at Fraser House Society (the host organization of this podcast). And every time he returned, he grew more and more, adding to his toolbox, ultimately creating a life of beauty that he loves.

Shawn’s counsellor, Sam, jumps in at the end and Shawn and Sam give us some insight on what the first few weeks of counselling are like, and what its like to begin the counselling journey. Shawn closes out with a poem he wrote at a very dark time, to cultivate hope for us all.

Kale's Story

Off The Clock Toolbox Talk

11/20/23 • 37 min

Twenty-five year old Kale Moth tells his story of being swept away by life on an oil rig at the ripe old age of 18. With guest co-host Trevor Botkin, Kale explores what he thought it meant to be a man, and how his commitment to self and family rapidly deteriorated with the introduction of harder drugs that can be commonplace in the oil and gas industry.
Kale's deterioration led to loss of employment, and eventually loss of housing. In 2018 Kale remembers sitting in the McDonald's he frequented for free wifi, and getting the shocking news that his cousin, Cody, had passed away from drug poisoning. Eventually the Cody Anders Memorial Scholarship was established to help fund others access treatment, and Kale become the first recipient of the scholarship in his cousin's name.
As Kale began to reconstruct his life with meaning, he realized that it was important for him to contribute back to the guys in the oil and gas industry. In place of other dealings that had previously been associated with Kale, he adopted the label of "Hope Dealer", emphasizing his acronym for HOPE: Hold on! Pain ends.
Watch for another upcoming episode on the oil and gas industry featuring Kale and Trevor on Off the Clock Toolbox Talk.

Cracking Open the Tailgate Toolkit

Off The Clock Toolbox Talk

07/02/23 • 30 min

Colby and Greg join us to share what the Tailgate Toolkit is, and how its helping men in construction navigate the drug poisoning crisis. https://thetailgatetoolkit.ca/

Greg shares his experiences hiding an opioid addiction that stemmed from a car accident, and how that brought him to helping other men as a Tailgate Toolkit Facilitator. Through talking about the current realities of substance use in the trades, and sharing his authentic story, Greg creates safety for men in Toolkit sessions to be able to share their stories of pain and loss.

Colby shares how he is focused specifically on trades leadership, partially incentivized by residential building points and gold seal credits, but also just because leaders want to know how to create some kind of safety for their crews; that they are tired of losing their crew members, and the emotional toll it takes on them.

Greg and Colby touch on how their conversations with men in the trades, one group at a time, are slowly changing culture to be able to better take care of ourselves and each other. Greg talks about all the tentacles that are attached to the death reports, such as families, friends, co-workers, and the group Mom’s Stop the Harm https://www.momsstoptheharm.com/ (who support the Tailgate Toolkit, and are also a Partner with Off the Clock Toolbox Talk).

Colby reiterates the harm reduction principles they utilize to improve safer usage, and that employers, by law, need to accommodate recovery, and cannot fire employees for having a substance use disorder. From a business point of view, Colby emphasizes that while it is costly to accommodate employee recovery time for a substance use disorder, its actually more costly to replace people. One of the purposes of Tailgate Toolkit is to support employers navigating the legalities of the drug poisoning crisis with a partnership with Roper Greyell LLP https://ropergreyell.com/, and Colby covers some of the obligations and pro-tips on how employers can begin to helpfully engage with their crews.

Squishy Meat Bags (I Don't Have Trauma. You Have Trauma!)

Off The Clock Toolbox Talk

12/02/23 • 36 min

Self-identified squishy meat bags, Jason (guest co-host), Karen (host), and Jonas (OTCTBT Steering Committee member), discuss trauma with Registered Clinical Counsellor, Sabine Sasakura. (Go to 18:51 for the squishy meat bag context). Starting with trauma referenced in the Deconstructing Your Inner Asshole episode https://www.buzzsprout.com/2207100/13213723, and including the birth of children, the crew discuss how our daily lives are affected by trauma including what the fight/flight/freeze response looks like on a work site. They discuss anger and resentment. Karen lightbulbs at the given definition of resentment: when you’re mad because you didn’t make or keep your own boundaries. Sabine helps us understand how we subconsciously experience trauma when we’re working in a place that is inherently physically or socially dangerous. Jason identifies the foundation of anger: fear, and the group squirms a bit at the truth of it. We connect to themes in Kale’s Story https://www.buzzsprout.com/2207100/14007685 of ‘fit in or fuck off’ and how that culture can also cultivate subconscious trauma. Jonas elaborates further on how his trauma manifests into physical symptoms. The crew discuss how substances both hurt and help our symptoms and the way our understanding of substance use is changing toward medically researched supports for our trauma. The discussion wraps up with how do we change the conversation around the negative parts of this sometimes-traumatic culture?

Superintendent Summit

Off The Clock Toolbox Talk

06/24/24 • 36 min

Superintendent Summit features in-depth discussion about how to lead work sites in a day where all our crews are affected by mental health and overdose (drug poisoning). From their own experiences, Superintendents Duncan Jordan and Trevor Botkin together with CSO Shane Sewell discuss many of the factors that have to be juggled between the demands of the business and the wellness of the crews; both ends have to be balanced to produce profit and have a crew healthy enough to produce the profit. Duncan and Trevor discuss that a super’s job is not to be a psychologist or counsellor. But when they can build a crew where people feel seen and heard, where the super is perceived as approachable by crew members, when crew members see themselves as invested in the physical and mental safety of the worksite, then striking the balance between profit and wellness becomes attainable. The development of these social skills, however, are not typically afforded to a superintendent; it often happens through a super’s personal journey or recovery. And that’s difficult to facilitate as an active Superintendent.

Duncan emphasizes the importance of education in all things safety – physical on site safety, safety with drug use, and safety with one’s mental health. Duncan gets personal and tells us how he tries to educate folks through the story of loved ones he’s lost to suicide. Trevor shares that he’s also lost beloved crew members to suicide as well. They agree that these losses drive them to take an extra moment with crew members, friends and family, even when there’s so much on their plate. Co-host Karen ties it up with a feeling that project participants have expressed before, that all these beloved people we’ve lost in construction, that perhaps its their energy that carries us forward in the work we do, to create a world where people can talk about these things, where previous generations could not.

If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, 988 is Canada’s suicide crisis line. You can call by yourself, 24/7, or you can call together with a buddy. Many of us in the Off the Clock Toolbox Talk community know these feelings and are sending out our love and hope to you.

100 Goodbyes

Off The Clock Toolbox Talk

10/28/24 • 39 min

When psychologist, Dr. Nicole Anders, lost her beloved brother Cody to overdose, she navigated her grief through writing daily love letters to Cody. Her book, One Hundred Goodbyes is a collection of those love letters, bridging the personal and clinical dimensions of her grief.

Nicole discusses that she frequently talks with her kids about their Uncle Cody. She suggests answering questions about a loved one’s overdose factually, but also keeping the answers simple for young children. She says when kids are older, discuss that their loved one took a medicine and didn’t know what was in it. Co-host Daniel emphasizes the centrality of people taking a substance and not knowing what’s in it, and how this drug poisoning crisis is entirely preventable.

Nicole coaches that grief doesn’t make sense, but our brains continually wrestle with it. In her own bargaining stage of grief, she wishes she would have been more loving in her interactions with Cody. In her humanity, even though she’s a psychologist, she wishes she would have dropped her judgement and frustration and just listened to Cody more. She now utilizes the phrase “how human of you” to disarm her own shame, and the shame of others she works with.

The conversation wraps up talking about the importance of person-first language so we see the human in front of us and don’t identify them by one particular struggle.

Season 3 Sampler

Off The Clock Toolbox Talk

08/24/24 • 50 min

The Season 3 Sampler lets you get a bite of each episode:
1. Shawn's Story
2. Aeris' Story Part 1
3. Jason's Story
4. Superintendent Summit
5. Losing Someone to Overdose
6. CSO Shane's Story
7. Aeris's Story Part 2
Covering lots of really tough stuff, and emerging with our humanity intact, this sampler is all about connecting to each others' stories.

The New PPE

Off The Clock Toolbox Talk

11/04/24 • 32 min

Season 4, Episode 3

In this episode, construction safety officer and carpenter C. Michael Kinsella, shares how he owes his whole life to his Red Seal.

When school wasn’t working out so well in junior high, Michael went straight into construction at the ripe old age of 14. He loved it. After an overdose at 16, Michael found a father figure in the industry and formed a chosen "family" of mentors around him. He and co-host Trevor Botkin discuss the value of these bonds that are formed on work sites.

Trevor and Michael go on to discuss some of the physical and psychological stressors of the industry, and the toll they take on a person and their biological family. And substance use is a regular part of that life.

Michael explains how he learned how to behave at work - and how to nurture his own physical, social and mental health. He encourages other tradespeople to foster a culture of wellness and humanity amongst their crews as well.

In 2023, Michael co-founded The New PPE, a non-profit organization whose values center around safety, accessibility, and empowerment. It's hope is a future where every workplace in Canada has the tools and knowledge to protect against the preventable tragedy of a toxic drug supply. A future where personal protective equipment includes naloxone and is mandated across all industries. Learn more and offer support at TheNewPPE.org.

Anthony's Story

Off The Clock Toolbox Talk

10/21/24 • 39 min

Anthony shares his story of growing up in a family of tradesmen where hard work and thick money were at the center of their way of being. And with the hard work came hard substance use.

As a teen, addicted to alcohol and cocaine, Anthony went to his parents to ask for help when he realized he was in more trouble than he could handle. His father’s solution was to send him to Fort McMurray where Anthony’s cowboy lifestyle cemented in. After decades of remote work, burning down one town and moving on to the next, Anthony found himself alone and using dangerous opiates. With a six month old child now in his life, he realized he had to do something different and reached out to an aunt who helped him get into recovery.

Anthony’s recovery experience was not straightforward, and he feels that after one year of recovery, he was just beginning to thaw out from decades of substance use. It took several years for him to figure out how to start living his life. Anthony discovered his son was in foster care at two years of age and knew he had to do the right thing and break the cycle of inter-generational trauma. He took some parenting courses and did more personal work so he could be a better father. Anthony and his mother were able to gain custody of his son, and Anthony continues to learn and grow beyond the harmful patterns he learned from his dad and uncles, creating a better life for himself and his son.

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FAQ

How many episodes does Off The Clock Toolbox Talk have?

Off The Clock Toolbox Talk currently has 30 episodes available.

What topics does Off The Clock Toolbox Talk cover?

The podcast is about Addiction, Health & Fitness, Construction, Mental Health, Wellness, Podcasts, Self-Improvement, Education, Trauma, Men and Recovery.

What is the most popular episode on Off The Clock Toolbox Talk?

The episode title 'Season 2 Sampler' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Off The Clock Toolbox Talk?

The average episode length on Off The Clock Toolbox Talk is 37 minutes.

How often are episodes of Off The Clock Toolbox Talk released?

Episodes of Off The Clock Toolbox Talk are typically released every 11 days, 3 hours.

When was the first episode of Off The Clock Toolbox Talk?

The first episode of Off The Clock Toolbox Talk was released on Jun 18, 2023.

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Off The Clock Toolbox Talk

TradesPodcast.com

Top 10 Off The Clock Toolbox Talk Episodes

FAQ

How many episodes does Off The Clock Toolbox Talk have?

What topics does Off The Clock Toolbox Talk cover?

What is the most popular episode on Off The Clock Toolbox Talk?

What is the average episode length on Off The Clock Toolbox Talk?

How often are episodes of Off The Clock Toolbox Talk released?

When was the first episode of Off The Clock Toolbox Talk?

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