Sarah Borbridge is a Community Mental Health Worker based in downtown Winnipeg — a role she’s been in since graduating from the University of Manitoba with a Bachelor of Social Work in 2022. Sarah is a MAHCP Member Advocate and will join MAHCP’s Executive as Council District Director of District 7 (Northeast Winnipeg). Welcome, Sarah!
Author: Sarah Borbridge
A part of the journey
My work as a Community Mental Health Worker focuses on supporting individuals living with mental health diagnoses on a medium to long-term basis, helping them achieve self-directed goals as part of their personal recovery journeys.
My role involves a range of responsibilities, including clinical assessments, system navigation, social services and healthcare coordination, case management, and crisis intervention.
At its heart, though, my work is about helping people access the resources and support they need to live their best possible lives.
Photo: Sarah Borbridge, Community Mental Health Worker, in her office
I have long aspired to work in public healthcare and was drawn to this role for the opportunity to engage directly with the societal circumstances at the foundation of people’s lives.
Too often, people receive mental health care only when their illness has reached a crisis point, without enough consideration for the social and economic conditions contributing to their struggles.
Effective mental health treatment is nearly impossible when people’s basic needs are not being met. A rent increase, the loss of a financial benefit, or positions being left vacant can create profound hardship and stress for clients, with the potential to contribute to severe and prolonged mental health crises.
To me, supporting someone’s mental health means recognizing and addressing the systemic failures that leave people without the necessities of life.
Finding hope amid growing needs, shrinking supports
In addition to our struggles to acquire and maintain our clients’ basic needs, mental health workers are constantly stretched thin, managing higher caseloads that are increasingly complex, often with fewer resources than before.
During my four years in this position, I have seen countless services become harder to access or disappear entirely. My colleagues often reflect on how, just 10 years ago, people had access to far better support systems and faced less severe challenges.
Today, one of the hardest parts of the job is confronting these losses, trying to find ways to fill the gaps in care, and witnessing the devastating impact when there is no longer a solution.
Even in the most challenging circumstances, I believe that every person deserves to be treated with dignity and afforded the opportunity to build a life they find meaningful. A fundamental aspect of my role is cultivating confidence, hope, and a positive sense of self in those I support, so that they may come to believe a better life is possible.
I have witnessed individuals overcome profound adversity, accomplish extraordinarily difficult things, and reach milestones they once believed were beyond their reach.
I am continually inspired by the people I work alongside. Their commitment to their own wellness and recovery is a remarkable thing to witness.
The role of a Community Mental Health Worker includes:
- Assessing someone’s needs, planning for services, and providing interventions
- Supportive counseling
- Assisting people experiencing crisis, including prevention of crisis
- Rehabilitation services, such as working with people to design a service plan to reach their life goals
- Promoting mental health and supporting prevention strategies in the community area
A fundamental aspect of my role is cultivating confidence, hope, and a positive sense of self in those I support, so that they may come to believe a better life is possible.
– Sarah Borbridge
World Mental Health Day
On World Mental Health Day, I wish to share my experience in order to shed light on the human cost of austerity and of political decisions that fail to prioritize the dignity and well-being of all people.
I admire my colleagues and fellow service providers, who routinely go above and beyond to serve the communities in which we work, at times even to the detriment of their own mental health.
They think creatively and outside the box, consistently exceed what is expected of them, and advocate tirelessly. Every component of Manitoba’s mental health field is invaluable and essential.
Photo: Sarah Borbridge, Community Mental Health Worker, in downtown Winnipeg
Caring for others and yourself
Outside of work, I spend most of my time involved in different types of social activism, from peace and international solidarity to the struggle for public housing and healthcare.
Working for progressive change outside my work helps me persevere through the daily injustices I witness firsthand within the system. I see being involved in MAHCP as one form of that social action, as I know that every fight the union takes on is a fight to better the lives of everyone, with a stronger healthcare system and better access to care.
On the very first day I became permanent in my position, I submitted my nomination papers to become a Member Advocate. Now, I am deeply honoured and excited to deepen my work within the labour movement as I take on the role of District Director of District 7 (Northeast Winnipeg).
In this capacity, I hope to carry forward a commitment to fighting for equity, dignity, and justice, not only in my clinical practice and my work with the union, but in every aspect of my life.
Photo: Sarah Borbridge (centre), MAHCP President Jason Linklater (centre-left), and labour allies on the Dynacare strike lines, September 8, 2026
“I see being involved in MAHCP as one form of that social action, as I know that every fight the union takes on is a fight to better the lives of everyone, with a stronger healthcare system and better access to care.
On the very first day I became permanent in my position, I submitted my nomination papers to become a Member Advocate. Now, I am deeply honoured and excited to deepen my work within the labour movement as I take on the role of District Director of District 7 (Northeast Winnipeg).”
– Sarah Borbridge