For most healthcare workers, the holidays aren’t a breather but rather another stretch where work ramps up quickly, expectations reset, and cognitive load increases before there is time to recalibrate.
Our providers see many Marvin members come to us in January for similar reasons.
Many start to notice subtle but persistent shifts that are easy to dismiss at first. Anxiety sits a little closer to the surface, recovery between shifts takes longer, sleep feels lighter or more fragmented, and emotional bandwidth feels thinner than it did a few months ago.
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone.
Recent research on physician mental health shows that healthcare professionals experience significant emotional distress long before they ever seek professional support. In one large academic study, most physicians who reported serious psychological distress, including suicidal thoughts, had not pursued help, often because what they were experiencing did not feel severe enough to justify it at the time.
What is easy to miss is that strain does not stay static while we wait it out.
Studies examining clinician burnout show that ongoing, unmanaged strain is associated with worsening patient safety, declines in attention, disrupted sleep, and reduced cognitive flexibility, even when they continue to perform well by external measures. From the outside, things may look fine but internally, the cost is accumulating.
This is where timing matters, and where there is some genuine good news.
Earlier engagement and continuity of mental health support are linked to lower symptom severity over time and fewer acute episodes later. In plain terms, support tends to work best when it is already in place, rather than introduced once everything feels overwhelming.
We see this in our own Marvin member data, too. Over 75% of Marvin members say they see improvement across a range of mental health concerns, including emotional well-being, stress, and functioning in large part due to the acute understanding of our providers, who have over 17 years of experience working with healthcare workers grappling with these very same struggles.
Starting the year supported follows the same logic you use in patient care.
Early check-ins shouldn’t be viewed as labeling problems or anticipating failure, but rather about preserving stability, creating space to notice changes sooner, and adjusting before depletion compounds. Over time, this helps maintain the emotional range and clarity that complex clinical work requires.
Many healthcare workers hesitate to seek support because nothing feels urgent. That hesitation makes sense, especially in a profession built on prioritizing others. But at the same time, urgency is rarely the moment when support is most helpful.
If beginning the year with support already in place would help you move through it with greater steadiness, that option is available. Consistency, more than intensity, is what protects capacity over time.
