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E suicides

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“We didn’t look at the narratives, we just looked at the num- bers,” McIntosh says.

the profession, and help identify best practices, as well as encourage firms to develop policies to redefine success.” McIntosh says the team of researchers did not go into the study with any preconceived notions. Their job was to de- velop the nomenclature, run the numbers, and tally the re- sults. “We just wanted to look at the data we had available,” she says. According to a March 2015 report by The Boston Globe , the campus suicide rate at MIT, the nation’s preeminent school for engineers, was higher than the national average. According to the Globe , over the last decade the undergradu- ate MIT rate was as high as 12.6 per 100,000 students, com- pared to the national campus average of between 6.5 and 7.5. In the discussion section of the CDC report, the authors point to general reasons why a person would commit sui- cide, and those reasons might apply to the A/E industry. “The AIA takes seriously the physical and mental health of architects. All of the ACA- compliant plans offered through our health insurance exchange contain mental health coverage as part of the required EHB or Essential Health Benefits.”

“Occupational groups with higher suicide rates might be at risk for a number of reasons, including job-related isolation and demands, stressful work environments, and work-home imbalance ….”

The American Institute of Architects issued this statement:

“The AIA takes seriously the physical and mental health of architects. All of the ACA-compliant plans offered through our health insurance exchange contain mental health cov- erage as part of the required EHB or Essential Health Ben- efits. When an AIA member uses the AIA Trust Health In- surance Exchange, the health plan contains mental health coverage benefits.” The American Society of Civil Engineers did not respond to The Zweig Letter ’s request for comment.

The AIA also had this to say:

“We are investigating the attributes of a truly successful ar- chitecture firm culture. These attributes include a focus on professional development and work-life balance. This focus also includes transparency between firm/project leadership and staff, diversity and inclusion, and a conspicuous appli- cation of a collaborative studio environment. We are look- ing for ways to benchmark these factors, provide tools for

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