Jorge Andrada of the Official College of Nursing of Madrid has demanded that Spain and the regional government expand specialized mental health nurses across all levels of healthcare.
Speaking at the Second Tribute to Nursing organized by Spanish national newspaper LA RAZÓN, Andrada warned that it makes no sense to train specialized nurses for years if the public healthcare system fails to fully utilize their expertise.
He urged authorities to reinforce primary care centers, community facilities, educational institutions, and social health centers with specifically trained personnel. He stated that failing to integrate these specialists into every care level creates a contradiction that harms both healthcare professionals and citizens.
The Official College of Nursing of Madrid is the professional organization representing registered nurses across the Madrid region in central Spain. In the Spanish healthcare system, specialized mental health nurses undergo postgraduate training to deliver psychiatric care, crisis intervention, and long-term psychological support.
Specialized Care Requirements
Andrada addressed a phrase that he noted has become common in streets, on social media, and in everyday conversations, namely that now everything is mental health. He noted that the expression is frequently spoken with a sarcastic tone, as though talking more about emotional well-being implies exaggerating the issue.
However, Andrada stressed that the phrase contains a truth that society must not trivialize. He explained that anyone can experience a period of psychological suffering and that no individual is completely immune. He added that people who have not experienced a mental health condition up close can hardly measure how deeply it conditions a person's life.
He remarked that, as with many other aspects of health, people usually value what they have only when it begins to fail. For years, experts and institutions have described mental health as a silent pandemic, a phrase Andrada warned risks turning into a cliché if not matched by action.
Behind that phrase, Andrada highlighted thousands of real stories involving people of all ages and conditions who live with anxiety, depression, unwanted loneliness, eating disorders, addictions, or severe mental illnesses. He noted that people often need to be listened to in time before suffering becomes unbearable, calling public mental health a critical issue that challenges society as a whole.
He pointed out that while the Covid-19 pandemic brought the emotional consequences of uncertainty, precariousness, isolation, and loneliness to light, it did not create those problems but rather amplified them and placed them before the public eye.
Addressing Stigma and Early Detection
Andrada emphasized that the nursing profession has spent decades accompanying people through the most difficult moments of their lives. He stated that nurses do not limit their work to administering clinical treatments or performing procedures, but instead provide comprehensive care.
In mental health, Andrada explained that care means being present when a patient feels that everything is collapsing, detecting behavioral changes before they turn into acute crises, helping individuals live with their illnesses, supporting families, promoting autonomy, and helping rebuild a life project beyond a diagnosis.
He praised the specialized mental health nursing profession, noting that their duties rarely finish when a clinical consultation ends. Their care continues in patient homes, community networks, coordination with other healthcare professionals, and support for the patient's family environment, combining scientific rigor with human compassion.
According to the Official College of Nursing of Madrid, nursing specialization should not be viewed as a professional privilege, but as a guarantee of quality care for patients. Andrada stressed that the growing complexity of healthcare requires highly qualified staff capable of providing early and continuous care.
He stated that early, continuous, care-focused attention improves patient recovery, reduces hospital relapses, encourages adherence to treatments, and relieves emotional suffering for families. Furthermore, Andrada pointed out that social stigma continues to cause many individuals to delay seeking professional help for months or even years due to fear of being judged.
Preventive Care and Support for Healthcare Staff
He observed that many people hide their psychological suffering behind an appearance of normality or struggle to find words to describe what they are experiencing. In these situations, Andrada highlighted that nurses are often the first healthcare professionals to notice that something is wrong, creating the trust needed for patients to verbalize their distress for the first time.
Andrada emphasized that nurses remind patients that asking for help is not a sign of weakness, but an act of personal responsibility and self-care. He called for action long before illness develops, advocating for healthy lifestyle promotion, emotional education from childhood, loneliness prevention, suicide prevention, elderly support, caregiver assistance, and community-based strategies where prevention receives equal priority with clinical treatment.
He noted that nurses serve as key reference professionals in health education and preventive care. He also called on society and health systems to protect the mental well-being of healthcare workers themselves, questioning who supports the caregivers who sustain society emotionally.
He concluded that protecting healthcare staff is an ethical obligation and a smart investment for any healthcare system. Reaffirming the slogan of the LA RAZÓN tribute event that caring for the mind is caring for life, Andrada stated that genuinely achieving this goal requires a decisive commitment to nursing.
