Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu Quebec

Dr. David Hedley is the owner of Emotional Surf Counselling and Consulting , a therapy practice dedicated to addressing the complex mental health challenges facing today’s Unionized Building Trades . His clinical expertise includes anxiety and depression, addiction, suicide risk, trauma, relationship therapy, and ADHD , with thousands of hours of direct counselling experience supporting tradespeople and their families across Ontario.

Before founding Emotional Surf, Dr. Hedley served as Executive Director of the Building Trades Members Assistance Program (BTMAP) , where he provided mental health and addiction services to unionized trades members province‑wide. In this role, he offered frontline therapeutic support, led emergency trauma responses to worksite fatalities and severe injuries, expanded service delivery, and strengthened partnerships across multiple trades unions.

Dr. Hedley brings a rare combination of clinical depth, operational leadership, and sector‑specific insight . His doctoral research focused on the urgent need for integrated mental health supports for construction tradespeople—a body of work he expanded through additional government‑funded research, culminating in the published report “Trades Deserve Mental Health.” This research, combined with his extensive clinical practice, has positioned him as a leading voice in understanding and addressing the mental health realities of the trades.

Through years of research, program development, and direct therapeutic engagement, Dr. Hedley has established himself as a recognized leader in designing, delivering, and advancing mental health services that meet the evolving needs of the Unionized Building Trades—today and into the future.