Flourishing in challenging times - a call to action

From Monday 11 to Sunday 17 May, we will join the rest of the UK in marking Mental Health Awareness Week 2026, the country's largest annual mental health campaign. This year's theme of Action is a clear reminder that while awareness is important, real progress comes from the everyday steps we take to protect our own mental wellbeing and to support one another.

For those of us working in healthcare, we carry the immense privilege and pressure of caring for others during moments of vulnerability, crisis and recovery. That responsibility is both rewarding and demanding, and it makes our own mental health just as important as the compassionate care we provide.

Research consistently shows that clinicians working in oncology including nurses, physicians, allied health professionals, and support staff face elevated risks of burnout, compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress and moral distress (1-3). In addition, evidence from NHS England’s staff survey and the RCN suggests that ethnically diverse staff face disproportionate harassment, bullying and abuse due to structural inequities, including racism and workplace discrimination (4). 

Burnout significantly impacts the retention of our highly valued NHS workforce (5). For example, the Nuffield Trust's analysis reveals that nurses with even a relatively moderate level of mental health-related sickness absence (5 to 14 days over a 3 month period) faced more than double the risk of leaving the role compared with those with 4 or fewer days of mental health-related sickness absence (6).

The cost of absenteeism and presenteeism is not only detrimental to organisations and the quality of care provided to patients, there is also a real personal cost.

And the personal cost is huge, just as the research which Claire has shared demonstrates. That is why my friend Kate Greenstock and I have just published a book to help us all navigate the mountains of burnout, moral injury and post-traumatic stress injury. Flourish for Nurses (7) is both realistic and hopeful. It weaves together stories and research evidence to take a candid look at the physiological realities of being a nurse, while offering tools to renew clarity, energy and motivation.

We know how challenging it can feel right now to go beyond 'survival' in healthcare. The invitation in this mental health awareness week is to do two things:

• to name what's going on around you and within you,
• then to find and claim your distinctive place in the nursing world.

For you and those you work with, ask:

• How do workplace environments and practices impact you personally?
• How might you reconnect with the core of your personality and purpose?
• How might you recognise more clearly the realities of trauma exposure, burnout, empathic strain and moral injury, and explore what's really needed for psychological safety?

Your social media feeds may be full of suggestions to practice living well in the day to day. This week maybe take some time to use whatever practices feed you to find a way back 'home', to a place where your sense of motivation for being a nurse is rekindled. A place where you can reconnect to your values, strengths and your unique voice. Once there, you will be able to make real, rich choices about your life and your career.

Mental Health Awareness Week offers us a moment to pause, acknowledge the pressures we face, and recommit to looking after ourselves and each other. But I want to be clear: your mental health matters everyday, not just during the campaign.

Thank you for everything you do - for patients, for families, and for one another.

Macmillan's Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)

As a Macmillan Professional, you can access the Macmillan's EAP which is provided by Spectrum.Life. It offers a wide range of confidential services including single telephone counselling services, psychoeducation on self care, online Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and ancillary services.

Macmillan Professional Development Grants

Our professional development grants can be used to fund learning opportunities to support your team to develop self care resilience.

Macmillan Learning Hub

We have an Introduction to Emotional Health and Wellbeing e-learning module and also a Help the Helpers 90 minute e-learning module available on the Macmillan Learning Hub.

1. Efthymios P, Basile S. (2025) The fight against burnout: doctors in distress The Lancet Oncology, 26, 1007-1008 available online at The fight against burnout: doctors in distress - The Lancet Oncology (accessed 10/4/26).
2. ESMO launches initiative to tackle burnout in oncology healthcare professionals | Cancerworld Magazine
3. Lim K, Kamposioras K, Élez E et al (2024) ESMO Resilience Task Force recommendations to manage psychosocial risks, optimise well-being, and reduce burnout in oncology ESMO Open, 2024; 9 (10) 103634. Available on line at ESMO Resilience Task Force recommendations to manage psychosocial risks, optimise well-being, and reduce burnout in oncology - ESMO Open (accessed 10/4/26).
4. NHS Staff Survey Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) 2025. Racism in nursing: RCN reports 55% rise in members facing abuse
5. NIHR, 2025 Investigating the link between NHS staff burnout and the quality of care patients receive | NIHR
6. Nuffield Trust. How staff joined the NHS under the 50,000 nurses programme – and why they left. April 2026
7. Greenstock K, Cable C 2026 Flourish: Thriving as Nurses Against the Odds : A Practical and Emotional Guide, London, Montag and Martin