By Chad S. Mitchell, PE, SE
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The structural engineering profession is full of stressors. Whether life safety, deadlines or cost/budget concerns, there is never an absence of stress. Even the best engineers have their challenges; they either have tools to manage the stress or they likely hide their struggles. Per a 2016 Center for Disease Control and Prevention study, architects and engineers had the fifth highest suicide rate at 32 per 100,000, double the national rate at the time. As May is National Mental Health Awareness Month, this article aims to provide insight and resources for taking care of your mental health and supporting colleagues who may be struggling.
I personally have struggled as the years since COVID-19 turned our world upside down. However, the pandemic was not the only cause of my struggles. I always had a lot on my plate, as people would say, but I seemed to be able to manage the stressors. As my responsibilities grew, my toolset to manage the stress grew at a much slower rate. Because I am one of those who hide their struggles, it may not have been noticed, but it surely was happening.
The struggles have pushed me to the point of looking for change. I love what we do. I consider engineering one of my love languages and cannot imagine doing anything else. But I am unable to continue in the industry in the long-term without changes.
Stressors
Structural engineering contains so many variables that we need to work through, and the stakes are high. Too often, we are asked to push the limits of physics to make our clients’ visions a reality. As technology advances with BIM software, we are often asked to work through designs that are constantly changing.
With the increase in material costs since the pandemic, we often are asked to redesign multiple times, with multiple materials to get the budget to pencil. The design team is often under unrealistic deadlines due to jurisdiction review backlogs.
Firms that are understaffed require their engineers to take on more projects. These engineers meet company goals by working longer hours or rushing through processes—or both. With a looming enrollment cliff at engineering schools created by lower birth rates, reinforcements do not appear to be coming.
Adding the stresses from personal life, these all combine for an environment I have not seen in my two-decade career.
Solutions for Industry
We as structural engineers cannot control most of the causes of our stress. We cannot control the nature of our industry: the deadlines, the costs, the clients. We can, however, work on the tools we use to manage the external pressures.
As firm leaders, we need to set our teams up for success. We need to do a better job planning and properly staffing our projects, improving the training of new engineers so that the struggle is not technical shortcomings, and pushing back on clients when deadlines are unreasonable and designs are unrealistic.
It is important to have a plan in place for employees having mental health issues. The plan can include something as simple as checking in on employees who seem to be struggling at work. It is not a technical issue that they are struggling with, but the stresses of their career. Simply checking in on an employee might be enough to open up the discussion of mental health.
Being isolated and feeling alone in work can add to struggles. I speak from experience. It is important to be there for our work families. We may not always have the solution, but being able to be open with struggles is such a powerful step.
In times of mental health crisis, firms should have a plan on how to react—similar to plans for other emergencies.
Solutions for Me
My biggest step to working through my struggles was to be open and not hide them. I do not have the toolset at this time to manage everything alone. Being honest with my supervisors that I was struggling gave me an opening to start working on my mental health. A part of this is normalizing mental health struggles. I have recently started seeing a therapist and it has been a game changer. As engineers we think we can solve any problem. But there are just too many unknowns in the equation that is the human mind.
In my last session, my therapist introduced me to a concept called “Ask vs. Guess” culture. In Ask culture, people ask for help when they need it. Guess culture people worry that they will inconvenience people by asking for help. A trap I fell into as my struggles started was to hide them and try to dig out of the hole by myself. I thought that if I just worked a little more, I could get ahead. I was trying to do everything myself, thinking my coworkers were too busy to have time to help me with my struggles. Being able to ask for help and delegate work is essential. I am just now understanding this, and it has changed things greatly.
“No” is a complete sentence. I have always had a hard time saying no to things. I am a member of too many professional society committees. Assess your commitments and focus on those that you are truly passionate about, while passing on the opportunities that do not align as well with your interests and schedule.
It is important to stay physically healthy as well. Take walks. Take actual lunch breaks. Do not eat lunch at your desk while working on a Revit model. Take the time to recharge. These steps, pun intended, can help with mental health. Studies have shown a link between physical and mental health. Exercise increases levels of dopamine, which has been shown to reduce depression and anxiety.
Increasing our R-Factor
As structural engineers design a building for seismic, we have two approaches that can be used. One is to provide an over-strength factor, which increases the forces for which lateral resisting elements need to be designed. Members are designed such their capacity is much greater than the forces created by the maximum earthquake event. This is analogous to the just work harder mentality.
This works well for low seismic regions. But when in higher seismic areas, the overstrength approach creates loads that are much higher than what would be reasonable for the design of members. To account for this, ductility is introduced into the lateral system to dissipate energy from the earthquake. This ductility allows the seismic loading to be reduced by increasing the response modification factor (R-Factor). A system design with ductility considered, such as a special moment frame (R=8), has a third as much force as a moment frame that does not consider ductility requirements (R=3).
We need to increase our R-Factors to combat the stressors we have in our profession. Build in ductility. Therapy is my ductility. Talking about my struggles is my ductility. Writing this article is my ductility.
Ask
If you are struggling like me, do not hide it. The old way was just to work harder; be stronger; don’t complain. This only attracts more load. Let people know you are struggling. They can help. Reaching out for help is not a weakness. It is one of the strongest things you can do.
Therapy is covered by many insurance plans. If it is not, I would challenge firm leaders to find a way to encourage that mental health be covered in some way. Firms pay for continuing education, why not an allowance for therapy? In the United States, most health insurance is company-provided. Companies realized that healthy employees are productive employees. Mentally healthy employees are even more productive. Invest in the mental health of your employees. In the hiring struggles, it is financially prudent to do what you can to keep employees vs. finding new ones when they leave due to burn out.
If you would like to start therapy, you can search for a therapist in your area at www.psychologytoday.com.
Normalizing mental health will make it easier for people to ask for help. Build local networks of friends, family, and coworkers who understand what stresses you deal with day today and that you can count on in times of need.
Find ways to personally recharge. Practice meditation or try breathing exercises. When I am in a stressful situation, I tend to forget to breathe. The simple step of focusing on breathing is a way for me to bring down my anxiety. Mindfulness apps on your phone also can help with anxiety. Firms should be open to offering ways to allow employees to recharge or step away temporarily if needed. A refreshed employee is much more efficient than a burned out one—and much more efficient than training a replacement.
Help is out there! And be the help others need! ■
About the Author
Chad S. Mitchell, PE, SE, is an Associate Principal at S. A. Miro, Inc. in Denver, Colorado and past president of the Structural Engineers Association of Colorado (SEAC). He is currently SEAC’s delegate to the National Council of Structural Engineers Associations (NCSEA). Structural engineering is his love language, and he is loving therapy as his way to work at tackling this crazy equation called life. (cmitchell@samiro.com)