In Episode 11, Angelo sits down with Trevor Botkin - a Red Seal carpenter with 30 years in construction who nearly lost his life to addiction and suicidal ideation in 2019. Trevor shares his full story, from being told he was stupid in school to finding belonging on job sites, to the day he planned to end his life and the treatment center stay that changed everything. He’s now leading the development of Muster Point, Canada’s first worker-driven peer support network for the trades, built in partnership with the Canadian Men’s Health Foundation and ICBA.

Key Topics Covered

• How basic job site conditions send a message about worker value

• Why construction concentrates vulnerable populations rather than creating mental health issues

• The role of shame, ego, and imposter syndrome in trades careers

• Trevor’s personal story: addiction, suicidal ideation, treatment, and recovery

• Chronic pain in trades and PAIN BC’s Trades and Pain initiative

• Muster Point: peer support platform, app functionality, and subscription model

• Why EAPs get 5% uptake and what to build instead

• Leadership responsibility: “You’re not just their boss, you’re their shepherd”

• Canada’s construction fatality rate compared to the UK

Guest Bio

Trevor Botkin is a 30-year construction veteran, Strategic Lead, Trades at the Canadian Men's Health Foundation, and host of the CMHF podcasts Don't Change Much and MusterPoint Off the Clock. Since entering recovery in 2019 after walking back from a planned suicide, he's brought his lived experience and voice to jobsites and projects nationwide and now leads the build of MusterPoint — a worker-built, worker delivered peer-led mental health network for Canada's skilled trades sectors. If listeners want to get involved in MusterPoint or have lived experience and want to step up to be trained as a MusterPoint Connector and join our team, they can email me directly at trevor.botkin@menshealthfoundation.ca

Links Mentioned

• Muster Point: musterpointcanada.ca

• Canadian Men’s Health Foundation: http://menshealthfoundation.ca/

• Off The Clock Podcast: tradespodcast.com

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