UHN introduced earlier this month a significant enhancement to its corporate clinical orientation, expanding the mental health care component from one to more than five hours.
This change acknowledges the critical connection between physical and mental health, ensuring clinicians are better equipped to address the full spectrum of patient needs.
Historically, many health care fields, including nursing, have lacked sufficient mental health education. This gap left many clinicians underprepared to manage mental health crises or incorporate mental health considerations into their practice.
“Mental health became a focal point during the pandemic,” says Aideen Carroll, an advanced practice nurse educator (APNE) at UHN’s Centre of Mental Health. “It highlighted the demand for mental health support and reinforced the idea that mental and physical health must be integrated.”
The development of the expanded training was led by UHN’s Practice-Based Education department, which collaborated with more than 80 individuals on the project. Aideen, alongside Linda Liu, an APNE with expertise in mental health care, created the relevant content and activities.
The expanded curriculum now offers more in-depth coverage of topics such as mental status assessments, verbal de-escalation techniques, trauma-informed care, suicide risk assessments and fostering interprofessional collaboration.
“Every single person on this planet carries physical and emotional health,” says Aideen. “You cannot treat one without addressing the other.
“This program ensures clinicians integrate that understanding into their practice.”
Incorporates a mix of instruction, activities and practical strategies
The new program underscores UHN’s commitment to modernizing its orientation for all clinical hires, whether they are social workers, nurses or physiotherapists.
Wednesday, January 22, is Bell Let’s Talk Day, an annual initiative aimed at raising awareness of mental health issues and highlighting initiatives such as this, which move mental health care forward.
Jennifer Reguindin, UHN’s Manager of Professional Practice, Practice-Based Education & Fellowship, spearheaded the overall project. An experienced registered nurse with a background in intensive care and geriatrics, she cites her personal experience to highlight the need for this change.
“During my early years, I wasn’t equipped to handle situations involving mental health crises and had to take it upon myself to learn,” she says. “I see this expanded orientation as the kind of resource I wish I had back then.”
The expanded curriculum incorporates a mix of instruction, activities and practical strategies to ensure trainees gain both knowledge and hands-on skills. With an interprofessional focus, it equips clinicians with tools to effectively communicate with patients, recognize potential triggers and apply foundational concepts to assess and manage both physical and emotional health in real-world scenarios.
“People come to UHN not just with physical pain or issues — they come with their whole selves,” says Karelin Martina, UHN’s Director of Practice-Based Education, who provided leadership to the project along with Maria Nelson, UHN’s Director of Professional Practice. “Part of being a person-centered care clinician is caring for the person as a whole and not just caring for the problem that we see in front of us.”
Jennifer also underscores the broader impact of this change.
“This training is about more than individual skills — it’s about patient safety and quality of care,” she says. “A clinician equipped to manage mental health challenges is better prepared to deliver comprehensive, patient-centered care.”
‘UHN has long been committed to integrating mental and physical health’
Orientation happens in the first two weeks on the job. Later, quarterly sessions offer additional, in-depth mental health education. Existing employees will have an opportunity to join these quarterly sessions.
For Aideen, a mental health nurse for more than three decades, the expanded mental health content in orientation represents a long-overdue validation of the field’s importance.
“When I saw the finalized curriculum, I cried with joy,” she says. “It felt like a moment of true recognition for the work we do.
“UHN has long been committed to integrating mental and physical health, and to see that vision come to life shows why we’re the number one ranked hospital in Canada.”
UHN’s broader commitment in this space includes trauma-informed de-escalation training (UHN TIDES) and a mental health education hub, offered in partnership with the Michener Institute of Education at UHN, featuring programs developed and led by Aideen such as the Mental Health Nursing certificate program.
Most Canadian institutions meet only accreditation requirements, which typically cover topics such as code whites, restraints and suicide assessment, and are often delivered through e-learning.
“It’s really hard for organizations to dedicate the time, resources and expertise with so many competing priorities, but for us at UHN this is a priority,” says Karelin.
By embedding mental health education more fully into its orientation, UHN is setting a new standard for patient-centred care – ensuring every clinician is equipped to support patients fully and compassionately.
No one ever changed the world on their own but when the bright minds at UHN work together with donors we can redefine the world of health care together.
