Supporting Mental Health in Vancouver's South Asian Trucker Community - A Pilot Project

Across North America, trucking is recognized as a high-risk occupation. It is replete with a myriad of stressors and dangers, including excessively long work hours with sedentary behaviour, irregular shift work disrupting sleep patterns, and chronic social isolation. The multitude of stressors that truck drivers face in their profession exposes them to a disproportionate level of risk, as compared to other occupations, to their health, safety, and wellbeing. The extant literature unanimously identifies detrimental ramifications of such a work context on the psychological wellbeing of truck drivers. In the Lower Mainland, the trucking workforce is predominantly composed of South Asian men, a group that faces additional, intersecting mental health challenges. These challenges are shaped by cultural values, gender norms surrounding masculinity, stigma associated with mental illness, and systemic barriers to accessing care, further compounding their vulnerability. We initiated a pilot project implementing culturally responsive mental health workshops for South Asian truck drivers in the Lower Mainland, with the aim of promoting awareness and mental health literacy, as well as reducing stigma, through inclusive, language-sensitive outreach and peer engagement.