The mental health overwhelm facing nurses in Canada
Why supporting nurses’ mental health, burnout recovery, and emotional wellbeing matters now more than ever
If you were born in a hospital in Canada, as 98 per cent of us were, a nurse likely played a role in your mother’s care and your safe arrival into this world. From before you were born, throughout early childhood, your teen years, adulthood, your own childbirth experience —or that of a loved one — and through to the end of life, there will likely have been multiple nurses involved in your care.
It is remarkable to think about the impact these dedicated, highly skilled healthcare professionals have on our lives.
I think about this often. Within my psychotherapy practice, I work with clients who are nurses in ICU departments and emergency rooms across Ontario. Each time we meet, they talk about balancing the intensity of their work with the realities of everyday life — raising children, travelling, caring for aging parents, doing school runs, binging Netflix, and trying to figure out how they want to grow and change as people.
What always strikes me is how ordinary their personal lives can look compared to the extraordinary emotional demands of their jobs. Nurses are often characterized as heroes, and this became especially true during COVID-19, when many of us more fully realized the risks nurses take simply by showing up to work.
Every day, nurses are exposed to trauma, grief, medical emergencies, and life-or-death situations. They care for people during the worst moments of their lives. They witness birth and death, heartbreak and loss, fear and uncertainty — and then they go home and do it all again the next day. That is why supporting nurses’ mental health is not optional; it is essential.
How does someone witness trauma day after day and still find the emotional energy, resilience, and optimism to keep going?
While nurses are deeply respected by the public, many report being treated poorly in day-to-day interactions with patients and their families. Combined with chronic understaffing, lack of workplace support, and limited empathy from management, this treatment can have a serious impact on nurses’ mental health. Over time, this emotional burden can lead to nurse burnout, anxiety, depression, compassion fatigue, and symptoms of secondary traumatic stress.
Yet many nurses feel unable to take the time they need to recover. The work is intense, healthcare systems are stretched thin, and many fear burdening already overwhelmed colleagues if they step away for a mental health leave. At the same time, continuing without support can leave nurses emotionally depleted and unable to sustain their careers long term.
Surveys conducted by the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions and WeRPN in 2025 found that 28 per cent of Canadian nurses were in immediate need of mental health support, while up to 60 per cent had considered leaving the profession due to overwhelming workplace stress and burnout.
Many of my nursing clients say the mental health challenges associated with their work are what encouraged them to begin therapy in the first place. Therapy offers a space where they can speak openly about what they are carrying — both professionally and personally. It gives them a place to unpack difficult experiences, process emotions, and feel heard without judgment. Often, simply having a safe and compassionate space to talk is deeply healing in itself.
Thanking nurses for what they do is a start, but it is not enough.
Supporting nurses means validating their experiences, listening to their fears and frustrations, advocating for healthier workplaces, and recognizing the emotional cost of caregiving.
As members of the public who have almost all been impacted by the work nurses do, the least we can do is ensure they feel seen, supported, and cared for too.