Nurses’ mental health: can managers ever say they’re struggling?

Candour about your mental ill health takes courage and can help reduce stigma, but if you’re in a leadership role, there may be risks you need to manage

• When a trust’s chief nurse used Twitter to reveal he was taking antidepressants, the responses he received proved he had struck a chord
• Openness about anxiety or depression can offer encouragement to others, but it may have implications for team morale
• How nurse leaders can protect their emotional well-being – self-care advice, coping strategies and resources

When North Bristol NHS Trust’s chief nursing officer Steve Hams posted a photograph on Twitter of tablets he had been prescribed, he was not expecting much of a response.