ENR 2025 Top 25 Newsmakers
Josh Rizzo: Using Military and Construction Experience to Tackle the Mental Health Crisis in the Industry
Rizzo travels the country, holding workshops and talking about mental health in the construction industry.
Related Podcast:
Josh Rizzo on Promoting Mental Health in the Construction Industry
Back to:
25 Top Newsmakers
All it took was the look on the face of his wife. Josh Rizzo, a Brooklyn native, had pulled out of a tough childhood with a steamfitter father who was incarcerated. He graduated from West Point and deployed straight into an army already at war in Iraq. Coming home, he went directly into construction and launched a successful career focused around workplace safety. But the PTSD, anxiety and depression could only be suppressed so much before his wife noticed.
“In 2021, when I was 32, I woke up to my wife asking me if I’m ok,” he recalls. He did not realize he’d been crying in his sleep. “I said, I will go to the VA and have this fixed by lunch,” he says, motivated only by “the helpless look on the person I loved the most.” But when he got there, it took him 45 minutes to bring himself to enter. “The most heroic thing I’ve ever done [was] to walk through that door and say, ‘I’m really sad and scared and I don’t know why.’”
He knew that he was far from alone in the industry, which is second only to mining in suicide rates in the U.S. “I was already running safety teams—I’m on jobsites talking about physical safety,” he says. “But if the workers are mentally not there, then they can’t work safely and with excellence.”
He left the corporate world to pursue his new mission full time in 2021, and held virtual meetings where he recalls seeing men cry on screen. “The industry was ready for a bigger conversation about mental health,” he says.
Rizzo now travels the country, holding workshops and talks. He gives out his phone number to workers on site, and says he spends about 10 hours a week answering calls from them.
Kevin Hilton, CEO of the Ironworker Management Progressive Action Cooperative Trust, heard Rizzo speak. “He hosted the most powerful business dinner I have ever attended, which included laughter, tears and everything in between. In addition, he provided a heartfelt and emotionally charged presentation to nearly a thousand of our most important leaders. If you haven’t heard him, it’s a must.”
The mission includes not only personal outreach to workers, but discussing organizational change with leaders. Last year, after several tragedies occurred among electricians, Rizzo convened a conference with 150 industry leaders.
Looking for quick answers on construction and engineering topics?
Try Ask ENR, our new smart AI search tool.
Ask ENR →
A common question is: “What are we to do? We’re not doctors or therapists. But we are leaders of organizations where people may not be doing great,” says Rizzo. Supporting them “has to be a day one top priority for companies. Collective attention is needed in a big way. We need investment. We need people to lean into each other a bit more.”
The Mechanical Contractor Association of America featured Rizzo as a speaker at its 20th anniversary conference, says Raffi F. Elchemmas, executive director of safety, health and risk management. “Josh Rizzo is a transformational presenter. Through a mix of industry expertise, personal experience and high emotional intelligence, Josh is able to connect with people on a personal level,” he says.
Jacob Snyder, COO of Enerfab, adds: “Whether it’s an organization trying to understand their team and get the best out of them, veterans trying to find their way or an individual trying to find purpose or clarity, Josh has that innate ability to connect with people on a personal level and help them break down boundaries.”
He adds: “I think everyone who meets Josh immediately sees his energy, passion, concern for those around him, and a servant’s heart. But at his core Josh is searching to be his best self, that place where a person understands their purpose, is challenged, is loved, and can find peace. And I believe Josh finds purpose in helping others be their best selves.”
Rizzo emphasizes that simply showing care and empathy for someone can make a difference. “You just need that one ray of light. It doesn’t take much.”
