Ontario’s escalating mental health crisis is straining our health-care system. Each day, nurses on the frontlines observe the devastating effects of untreated mental illness in hospitals, clinics and communities. However, despite their critical role, many nurses are ill-equipped to handle these complex cases due to deficiencies in their formal education.
The truth is straightforward: Ontario’s nursing curriculum has not aligned with the province’s mental health needs. While provinces like British Columbia and Alberta have incorporated strong mental health training into their nursing programs, Ontario lags behind, leaving nurses without the necessary tools to support patients in crisis.
In the past decade, anxiety and depressive disorders alone have doubled in prevalence across Canada. Yet, Ontario’s nursing programs continue to emphasize general nursing training, leaving mental health education as an elective or brief module rather than a core component.
As a result:
Underprepared nurses: Nursing graduates frequently enter the workforce lacking the confidence or competence needed to manage psychiatric emergencies, effectively de-escalate crises or deliver trauma-informed care. The lack of structured mental health education hampers their ability to recognize early warning signs of psychiatric distress, leading to delayed interventions and suboptimal patient outcomes.
Inadequate patient support: Individuals with mental health conditions often face systemic barriers to care, such as stigma, misdiagnosis and insufficient support. Of those who reported a mental health condition in Canada, only 43.8 per cent had accessed counselling services and only 64.3 per cent agreed that it had met their needs. The absence of specialized mental health training among health-care providers leads to fragmented care, inappropriate treatment plans and an increased dependence on emergency services rather than community-based mental health resources, ultimately worsening patient distress and recovery challenges.
Overburdened hospitals: Emergency departments and inpatient psychiatric units are experiencing an increasing influx of patients who could have been effectively managed in primary care or community settings if appropriate early intervention strategies had been implemented. In the past 20 years, mental health-related emergency department visits by children and youth have increased by 75 per cent, with 39 per cent of children and youth with mental health conditions having had three or more emergency visits. The shortage of mental health-trained nurses leads to longer wait times, unnecessary hospital admissions and extended inpatient stays, further straining an already overburdened health-care system. Without a strong nursing workforce equipped with mental health competencies, hospitals will continue to face capacity issues and inefficiencies in care delivery.
Ontario’s approach to nursing education significantly differs from that of provinces such as British Columbia and Alberta, where mental health competencies are central to the curricula. In these provinces, nursing students acquire:
- Training in crisis intervention, trauma-informed care and substance use management.
- Clinical experience in mental health units and community-based programs.
- A strong understanding of the social determinants of mental health.
Ontario nurses deserve the same preparation. Without it, our ability to respond to the mental health crisis will continue to fall short.
To effectively support patients and prevent nurse burnout, Ontario must prioritize mental health education as a fundamental aspect of nursing education. Here’s how:
- Make mental health a core subject, not an elective
Mental health education has been demonstrated to improve nursing students’ attitudes toward mental illness and allow them to feel more prepared for a future in mental health nursing. Ontario nursing schools should ensure that every nursing student completes comprehensive courses on mental health, including:
- Crisis intervention strategies: Equipping nurses to manage acute psychiatric crises effectively.
- Trauma-informed care: Helping nurses understand the impact of trauma and provide sensitive, patient-centered care.
- Substance use management: Training nurses to care for patients struggling with addiction, including harm reduction techniques.
- Increase clinical placements in mental health settings
There is no substitute for hands-on experience. Ontario nursing programs must expand clinical placements in:
- Inpatient psychiatric units: Allowing students to work alongside experienced mental health nurses.
- Community health centres: Exposing students to preventive and early intervention care.
- Mobile crisis teams: Providing real-world experience in de-escalating mental health emergencies.
These placements will help students develop critical thinking skills and break down the stigma surrounding mental health care.
- Offer ongoing mental health certifications
Continuing education should be accessible for practicing nurses. Ontario should introduce:
- Postgraduate certificates in psychiatric and mental health nursing: To help nurses specialize in this high-demand field.
- Workshops on emerging issues, such as managing patients with dual diagnoses or responding to the opioid crisis.
- Employer-supported training programs: Encouraging health-care facilities to invest in their staff’s professional development.
These opportunities will create clear career pathways for nurses interested in mental health.
- Promote interdisciplinary learning
Mental health care is a team effort. Ontario nursing programs should incorporate interdisciplinary training, encouraging collaboration between nursing students and:
- Social workers: To address the social determinants of health.
- Psychiatrists and psychologists: To understand diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.
- First responders and crisis intervention teams: To prepare for real-world emergencies.
This collaborative approach mirrors the team-based care model used in practice and prepares nurses for the realities of the health-care system.
- Reduce stigma through education
Stigma remains a barrier to effective mental health care – both within society and within health-care settings. Mental health education has been demonstrated to improve nursing student attitudes and decrease their anxiety toward people with mental illness. Nursing programs should:
- Integrate anti-stigma training into their curricula, emphasizing empathy and patient-centered language.
- Highlight lived experiences by inviting patients with mental health challenges to share their stories with students.
- Teach self-care strategies to help future nurses manage their own mental health.
By fostering a culture of compassion and understanding, we can empower nurses to lead the fight against mental health stigma.
As nurses, we understand that education shapes practice. Without the proper preparation, even the most dedicated nurse can feel powerless in the face of a mental health crisis. That’s why we must push for change, not just in how we respond to these crises, but in how we prepare nurses to prevent them.
By embedding mental health care into the heart of nursing education, we can empower nurses to make a life-changing difference, one patient, one family and one community at a time.
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