Building Canada’s Future Mental Health Nursing Workforce
Nurse leaders in education have a pivotal opportunity to shape the future of mental health nursing in Canada. This is not simply a question of increasing the number of nurses available to work in mental health or substance-use settings. It is a question of what every nurse is prepared to do: build trust, recognize distress, address stigma, respond safely to suicide and substance use, and provide equitable care across the health system. Many of the principles now described as “holistic” or person-centred nursing have deep roots in mental health and mental health and psychiatric nursing and in nursing generally. Therapeutic relationships, trauma-informed care, attention to social context, advocacy, communication, and not only respect for but understanding of a person’s lived experience have long been central to mental health nursing practice. Today, these competencies cannot sit within one specialty alone. Mental health needs are present in every care environment. A pers...