‘It’s all preventable’: tackling America’s workplace suicide epidemic

The US suicide rate is the highest of any wealthy country and the pandemic highlighted work stress's effect on mental health

At about 4.30am on 18 January this year, 27-year-old Michael Odell, a travel nurse who was working at Stanford hospital in Stanford, California, walked off the job during a night shift. Two days later, after his roommate reported him missing, Odell's body was found by the Alameda county sheriff office's dive team in the water near the Dumbarton Bridge in San Francisco, along with his car.

His roommate, Joshua Paredes, said he witnessed Odell's declining mental health. Odell was working long hours, had recently moved to the area after the death of his mother and was having trouble finding a new therapist after a lapse in his health insurance coverage.