Clarissa Rankin is one of many truck drivers who witnessed everything change on the front lines of the pandemic.

"Going from state to state and seeing how other people were struggling... it was terrible," Rankin said of the early pandemic's impact. "It affected a lot of truck drivers. I know it affected me."

The pandemic intensified mentally exhausting aspects of truck driving that already existed. Michael Yonka, director of transportation safety services at Sentry Insurance, said fleets increasingly recognize that mental health directly affects employees' physical health, performance, and safety, and vice versa.

"Anxiety, depression, and chronic loneliness that come with mental health issues inevitably lead to more health problems: poor diet, lack of sleep," Yonka said.

An unhealthy lifestyle and drowsiness "can translate into road safety issues," he added. Improving truck driver performance and safety through wellness programs may help lower insurance premiums.

Mental health resources also provide value to drivers and help with retention.

"How do you get drivers to want to work here and stay? Show them you treat them as people," Yonka said.

Pandemic exacerbated an already isolating profession

Even before the pandemic, transportation ranked fourth in suicide rates for both men and women among occupational groups,data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventionshows. For drivers who spend long hours alone in confined spaces, trucking can be an isolating profession.

Drivers witness many things on the road, and some events can be traumatic and lead to mental health issues. For example, witnessing fatal accidents or human trafficking can trigger fear and anxiety.

As a result, post-traumatic stress disorder is one of the most commonly reported mental health issuesamong transportation professionals,second only to depression and anxiety. Experts say truck drivers are also particularly vulnerable to suicidal thoughts, seasonal affective disorder, and burnout.

"How do you get drivers to want to work here and stay? Show them you treat them as people."

— Michael Yonka, director of transportation safety services at Sentry Insurance

Experts point out that mental and physical health go hand in hand, and a deficiency in one affects the other. Due to the nature of their work, truck drivers often have less healthy lifestyles. Traffic stress or pressure to deliver on time, lack of physical exercise, difficulty accessing healthy food, and insufficient sleep are all contributing factors.

During the pandemic, truck drivers' already limited opportunities for human contact and access to basic necessities were in some cases taken away. Truck stops and restaurants either closed voluntarily or by government order. Many shippers or receivers also barred drivers from entering their facilities.

"It was already a lonely profession, and now they couldn't go inside," Yonka said. "Drivers were truly isolated from society, even while they were out on the road."

Being away from colleagues or other human contact can be dehumanizing and trigger mental health issues, which were exacerbated globally as the pandemic spread.

Inanother CDCsurvey, nearly 41% of respondents said their mental health was affected in the early stages of the pandemic. Compared with the same period in 2019, symptoms of anxiety and depression in the U.S. increased from April to June 2020.

The pandemic's impact on mental health in the U.S.

Additionally, truck drivers also bore the stress of being unable to see and comfort sick loved ones for days or weeks while on the road.

"The pandemic was definitely challenging. It exacerbated the stress and problems truck drivers already had," said Mona Shattell, chair and professor of the Department of Nursing Systems at the University of Central Florida, who studies truck driver mental health.

Providing help for truck drivers' psychological and emotional needs "is an area that needs improvement," she said.

Building support systems

Before the pandemic, few fleets offered dedicated mental health services for truck drivers. But anecdotal evidence suggests COVID-19 prompted more transportation companies to start discussing mental health and exploring ways to help employees.

"The change I've seen is that we're more willing to talk about it in management," said Nate Kennedy, director of human resources at Hogan Transportation.

Hogan is "just starting to dip its toes into mental health," Kennedy said, and he hopes the company—and others—will develop formal support programs.

Hogan currently encourages employees to use third-party employee assistance programs. Paper Transport alsooffers EAPs to employees and their families, including counseling services. Dot Foods is one of the transportation companies offeringresourcesto maintain physical and mental health, including EAPs and telehealth counseling.

Telehealth services sawa surge in demandduring the pandemic, and can be especially crucial for drivers. Truck drivers, due to their schedules, find it difficult to attend in-person counseling.

Shattell noted that some companies are also beginning to offer physical and mental health services at distribution centers and truck stops, bringing services to where drivers are.

Communication is central to helping drivers. Supervisors and dispatchers should regularly check in with truck drivers and ask how they are doing. Modern communication methods make check-ins more efficient and provide more data than in the past.

"The pandemic made everyone discover new ways of communicating," Yonka said. Video chats, for example, can allow supervisors or dispatchers to "observe the driver's expressions: How do they react to your questions? How do they interact with you during the conversation?"

Data show that peer support is also effective, Shattell said. Peer support channels include truck driver YouTube channels or Facebook groups such as "Truckers for Truckers."

Rankin frequentlyposts videoson TikTok and other social media platforms showcasing the truck driver lifestyle. She emphasizes the importance of self-care for truck drivers to maintain physical and mental health, and offers advice to peers on healthy eating, physical exercise, and making time for personal hygiene and rest.

But she says the responsibility for staying healthy should not fall entirely on truck drivers.

"Companies can do more," Rankin said. She noted that transportation companies already require drivers to watch safety training videos, and incorporating mental health and self-care into training topics would be easy.

"Add this kind of education, not just 'safety first' education," she said. "Yes, safety first, but health and mindset are also first."

Overcoming stigma

Effectively addressing mental health requires overcoming a huge obstacle: stigma.

"It's hard to talk about mental health, almost taboo, for truck drivers or society as a whole," Kennedy said.

Trucking remains a male-dominated profession, and drivers are sometimes stereotyped as "tough" or "macho." Male drivers especially hide their feelings and mental health issues because admitting and talking about these topics is seen as a sign of weakness, Shattell said.

Female truck drivers also face gender-specific pressures that affect mental health, such as discrimination, feelings of insecurity, and inadequacy when balancing life on the road and caring for family.

The pandemic prompted some change in this discourse, as millions of people began experiencing symptoms of mental health issues. Experts say that while this is a good start, society still has a long way to go to shed the stigma.

"Mental health is now part of our national conversation. However, I still think it hasn't changed the stigma around mental health to a large extent," Shattell said.

Experts say creating a culture where mental health can be discussed at work is crucial, because it is the first step toward improvement. Employees may be reluctant to show vulnerability on sensitive topics, but management can lead by example.

"If we act like it's no big deal to talk about it, then drivers will follow suit and be more willing to talk about it," Kennedy said.