Each year, National Nursing Week offers a meaningful opportunity to recognize what nursing means to Albertans — the steady presence of skilled, ethical, and compassionate care during some of the most vulnerable and transformative moments in people’s lives.

The mandate of the CRPNA is to protect the public. Every standard we establish, every registration decision we make, and every practice expectation we uphold begins and ends with that responsibility. Yet public protection is not achieved through regulation alone. It is realized through the dedication of Alberta’s Registered Psychiatric Nurses, who bring specialized knowledge, sound clinical judgment, therapeutic communication, and professional integrity to every encounter with individuals, families, and communities experiencing mental and physical health challenges, psychiatric illness, addiction, and developmental disabilities.

Registered Psychiatric Nurses play a unique and essential role in Alberta’s health-care system. Across hospitals, community mental health programs, correctional facilities, schools, outreach teams, and rural and urban settings, they provide person-centered care grounded in compassion, connection, understanding, and hope. Their work promotes recovery, resilience, and healing while upholding the dignity and autonomy of those they serve.

Whether offering therapeutic support during times of crisis, fostering recovery through meaningful relationships, or bringing hope and healing to those navigating mental and physical health challenges, Registered Psychiatric Nurses demonstrate the power of nursing every day.

On this National Nursing Week, and in celebration of this year’s theme, The Power of Nurses, thank you for your unwavering commitment to compassionate psychiatric and mental and physical health care. Stronger together, better every day.