Cincinnati-area hospital workers are leaning hard on employer counseling and on-site support as workload and workplace stress keep climbing. One-on-one visits are up, team debrief requests are rising, and programs that were designed as a safety valve are now straining under the pressure. Clinicians describe a mix of pandemic-era burnout, rising public aggression and moral distress tied to taking care of a sicker patient population.
OhioHealth, the large system that serves parts of central and southeastern Ohio, has tried to stay ahead of the curve by expanding its employee Well-Being Center and increasing covered counseling visits from eight to 12 annually. Even with those changes, counseling requests still climbed about 8% in the first nine months of the year, according to Ohio Capital Journal. Dr. Laurie Hommema, OhioHealth’s senior medical director of well-being, told the outlet that employee interactions through the program jumped from roughly 8,000 per year to about 28,000 over five years.
Statewide demand outpaces the workforce
Across Ohio, coverage from public media and local outlets points to the same problem: demand for behavioral-health care has surged far faster than the workforce. WOSU Public Media reported that behavioral-health demand rose more than 350% from 2013 to 2019. A Health Policy Institute of Ohio analysis summarized in local coverage found that 75 of Ohio’s 88 counties now meet the criteria for mental-health shortage areas, according to reporting by News 5 Cleveland.
International research documents clinician strain
The strain on clinicians in Ohio tracks with global trends. A sweeping international survey of nurses published in 2025 found anxiety or depression rates ranging from 23% to 61%, about 18% reporting symptoms of workplace burnout, and nearly half saying they had experienced public aggression because they were a nurse, according to a summary of the study on PubMed. Ohio employers say those numbers mirror what they are seeing among their own staff.
How this plays out in Cincinnati
In the Cincinnati region, providers report months-long waitlists and rising emergency visits for both pediatric and adult behavioral-health crises. Area health systems are scrambling to expand capacity, as described by The Cincinnati Exchange. Plans include new school-based placements, expanded outpatient programs and private investments aimed at easing the pressure on already stretched hospital teams.
Employers treat staff mental health as an investment
Some policy experts and employers argue that covering therapy and support for clinicians is not just a perk but a long-term strategy to preserve care quality. Former congressman Robert Andrews and others told Ohio Capital Journal that employer-funded support should be seen as an investment, since unhealthy caregivers cannot sustain high-quality care. Hospitals are responding by hiring well-being staff, expanding covered visits and adding critical-incident response teams, though leaders acknowledge those moves only partially close the gap.
Policy fixes and workforce steps under way
The state has launched short-term workforce incentives such as the “Welcome Back” hiring bonuses and return-to-practice efforts to bring former behavioral-health professionals back into care settings, according to communications from the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. Advocates say those steps are useful, but argue that long-term fixes will require higher reimbursement rates, more clinical supervisors and sustained training pipelines.
For Cincinnati’s front-line workers, the picture is clear: more clinicians are asking for help even as too few trained providers are available for patients. Local systems will need steady funding and durable workforce solutions to lower the pressure on both sides of the stethoscope. Experts caution that it will take years of sustained investment and policy change before demand and supply are anywhere close to balanced.
