The Working Mind
Long-Term Care
During the pandemic, when families were locked out, long-term care staff showed up every shift. For many residents, you were the only familiar face in the room, with isolation and loss all around you. Many of you still carry that weight today.
Long-term care asks a great deal of the people who do it. Staff form deep bonds with residents over months and years, which means end of life isn’t an occasional event. It’s part of the rhythm of the work, and the emotional weight of it builds quietly.
The Working Mind: Long-Term Care is an evidence-based, five-hour program from the Mental Health Commission of Canada, created in partnership with the Canadian Association for Long Term Care. It’s designed for people in every department, from nursing and food services to recreation therapy and spiritual care. It includes videos of long-term care staff who have recovered from mental health problems, so the stories come from inside your world. It was built for the stress, fear and uncertainty of the pandemic years, and it still speaks to the work today.
Long-term care workers show up for the people in their care every single day. This course shows up for you.
You show up for them every shift. This is a place to show up for yourself.
Don’t see a date that works? Get in touch.
Most long-term care homes book a private session, scheduled around their team’s shifts. Learning together builds shared language across care aides, nurses and support staff, and makes it easier to speak up. Available virtually across Canada, or in person in the Lower Mainland. In-person delivery elsewhere is available with travel costs covered.
$250 + GST per person
Still Not Recovered
A decade of data shows LTC workers entered the pandemic already at elevated risk - & have not bounced back. Emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction, and professional efficacy all remain below pre-pandemic levels as of 2024
Hospital News / Gerontological Nursing Association of Canada, 2025
33%
of working caregivers experience burnout and are nearly twice as likely to miss work due to mental health reasons compared to other workers
Mental Health Research Canada, 2025
73%
of paid care providers have considered leaving the profession, citing low pay, burnout, and lack of job security
Benefits and Pensions Monitor, 2026
The Curriculum
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Because mental health in long-term care doesn't belong to just one role, this program is designed for every single department: nursing, care aides, food services, environmental services, recreation therapy, spiritual care, and administration. It belongs to everyone who shows up. This training isn't a lecture full of clinical theories or corporate slide decks that don't fit the reality of your day. It's delivered by a facilitator with over 20 years of experience as a mental health provider. Grounded in the actual rhythm of long-term care, the course relies entirely on video testimonials, case studies, and personal accounts from real workers on the floor. You'll hear directly from care aides, nurses, and support staff who have processed deep grief and found ways to protect their peace amidst heavy emotional demands. By learning from the lived experiences of your peers in the sector, you get practical, tested frameworks that make sense in a real care home environment.
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We address the unique culture of long-term care, where staff are naturally driven to put everyone else's comfort and dignity ahead of their own well-being. This module introduces core concepts of mental health and substance use, looking closely at how stigma or the fear of appearing "weak" keeps dedicated care workers from asking for support.
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We take a proactive approach to mental health by replacing clinical jargon with an objective, color-coded spectrum tool. Participants learn to recognize early, subtle changes in behavior - moving from healthy to reacting or injured - giving the entire team a common language to check in on each other easily and naturally.
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This module focuses on the specific chronic stressors of long-term care, including understaffing, high physical demands, compassion fatigue, and the unique weight of processing grief and loss as part of the daily job. This is a hands-on session where participants practice the Big 4 Coping Strategies to actively protect their own peace and mental health.
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Centered on safe, meaningful communication and peer-to-peer support. Using the RAMP framework, you'll practice how to confidently offer support to a colleague showing signs of distress, understand the importance of setting healthy boundaries, and learn exactly how to connect yourself or a coworker to professional resources when needed.
Please note
For prevention purposes, this course includes content on suicide awareness. Verbal trigger warnings are provided prior to discussing this material to ensure a safe, supportive learning environment for everyone.