Question Period Note: Mental health and substance use tools

N/A

• The Government remains committed to supporting Canadians with their mental health and substance use challenges as well as increasing access to services so that Canadians can get the help they need, when they need it.
• En réponse à la pandémie, notre gouvernement a agi rapidement pour lancer un portail en ligne qui donne accès en tout temps à des outils et à des soutiens fondés sur des données probantes, gratuits et confidentiels.
• Dans le cadre du budget de 2021, le gouvernement s’est engagé à consacrer plus de 280 millions de dollars à un ensemble de mesures visant à répondre aux besoins en santé mentale des Canadiens marginalisés et touchés de façon disproportionnée, et à invertir dans l’amélioration des systèmes de santé.
• Notre gouvernement est déterminé à œuvre pour que les soins de santé mentale deviennent une composante à part entière de notre système universel de soins de santé. Cela se reflète dans la réaffirmation par le projet B2022 de l'engagement des provinces et des territoires dans l'élaboration d'un Transfert canadien en matière de santé mentale, qui constituerait une source permanente et continue de financement des services de santé mentale.

IF PRESSED ON NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE USE…
• The Government of Canada is working with the Standards Council of Canada – a Federal Crown Corporation with demonstrated expertise in developing national standards – to develop an integrated suite of national standards to support the delivery of mental health and substance use services, leveraging significant work done to date in this field.
• Standards are tools for supporting health providers in the delivery of high-quality and equitable mental health and substance use services, and will help to ensure a consistent level of care is provided.

IF PRESSED ON SUPPORTS FOR CHILDREN, YOUTH AND FAMILIES…
• The pandemic is particularly challenging for children, youth and families.
• Through Wellness Together Canada, children and youth (ages 5 to 29) are able to access mental health and substance use resources, including Kids Help Phone which provides online, phone and text based support to young people.
• The Federal Government is currently funding Kids Help Phone close to $15 million over 36 months, from 2020-23.
• We are also investing $5 billion over ten years to provinces and territories to help them expand access, which includes community-based mental health and addiction services for children and youth.

IF PRESSED ON SUPPORTS FOR FRONTLINE WORKERS …
• Health care and front line personnel are an important population for Wellness Together Canada. That is why the Portal features a dedicated text line and targeted mental health and substance use supports.
• Frontline workers can access free counselling, peer support groups, and a range of anonymous, self-guided programming. This includes co-designed mindfulness sessions for health care workers to reduce stress and support coping with work/life demands.
• The Portal also features Program Navigators that can assist frontline workers in accessing portal resources appropriate for their needs.
• Through Budget 2018, the Government of Canada, through CIHR, in partnership with the Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research and Treatment (CIPSRT), has committed $20 million over 5 years to establish research and coordination hubs, as well as a Crisis Line and App-based supports, to build the evidence base around effective support models for public safety personnel experiencing Post-Traumatic Stress Injury.

IF PRESSED ON SUPPORTS FOR DIVERSE POPULATIONS …
• Wellness Together Canada continually enhances the portal to ensure inclusivity.
• Phone counselling sessions are supported by instantaneous interpretation in over 200 languages and dialects, including 24 Indigenous languages.
• The portal features contact information for Hope for Wellness (for Indigenous peoples), and supports populations with barriers to care, including those in isolation or remote areas, facing stigma or financial difficulties, and official language minority communities.
• The Promoting Health Equity: Mental Health of Black Canadians Fund is investing $10 million to support community-based projects across Canada.

IF PRESSED ON SUPPORTS FOR INDIVIDUALS IN RURAL AND REMOTE COMMUNITIES …
• Our government recognizes that rural and remote communities in Canada face unique challenges in providing access to quality mental health and substance use services.
• Wellness Together Canada (WTC) has been providing rural and remote communities with free mental health and substance use resources available 24/7, in both official languages. In addition, for Canadians who do not have reliable internet access, many of the WTC supports can be accessed by phone and text.
• The Government will explore pathways to increase the accessibility of services in rural areas, including virtual options.

IF PRESSED ON SUPPORTS FOR SUICIDE …
• The Government is currently investing $21M over five years in the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) to implement and sustain Talk Suicide Canada. This service provides 24/7 suicide crisis support via the phone (1-833-456-4566) and via text (45645) in both English and French.
• The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission recently announced that it will adopt 9-8-8 for Canadians to call or text when in need of immediate mental health crisis and suicide prevention support. This will be launched across Canada on November 30, 2023.
• To prepare for the introduction of 9-8-8, the Government has announced that CAMH has been selected to lead the coordination of 9-8-8 service delivery, building on its experience delivering Talk Suicide Canada.
• The Government of Canada is also leading the development of a National Suicide Prevention Action Plan. This Plan is anticipated to be released in fall 2023.

IF PRESSED ON SUPPORTS FOR THE MENTAL HEALTH IMPACTS OF THE PANDEMIC …
• The Government is concerned about the impacts that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the mental health of Canadians, and we know that these impacts have been particularly severe for certain groups.
• This is why, through Budget 2021, the Government of Canada provided $100 million over three years to support projects that promote mental health and prevent mental illness in populations disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• In addition, the Government provided $50 million to support projects to address posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and trauma in frontline workers and others who are most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• At the onset of the pandemic, research investments were rapidly deployed to the COVID-19 and Mental Health initiative to proactively provide urgent knowledge and evidence to support decision-making throughout the mental health responses to the pandemic.

IF PRESSED ON THE CANADA MENTAL HEALTH TRANSFER …
• The Government has made significant investments to improve access to mental health and substance use services, and has committed to establish a Canada Mental Health Transfer.
• The Government has engaged in a cross-country series of consultations and roundtables to hear from Canadians, and remains committed to ensuring that mental health is treated as a full and equal part of the universal healthcare system.
• To this end, we will continue to engage with partners and stakeholders and Canadians of all backgrounds, including individuals with lived and living experience.

IF PRESSED ON THE UTILIZATION OF WELLNESS TOGETHER CANADA …
• As of November 14, 2022, almost 3 million individuals have accessed the portal in over 8 million web sessions.
• Approximately 39% are men.
• Approximately 45% are under the age of 30.
• For phone sessions, 87% felt better after speaking with a counsellor. For text sessions, 86% of texters were highly satisfied.
• Users report visiting the site to seek help with a variety of issues, including anxiety or stress, depression, relationships, and suicide.
• 39% of texters indicated that they would not have sought other options for help.
• Health Canada will continue to monitor the portal to ensure its value and impact to Canadians.

IF PRESSED ON THE COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION WITHIN WELLNESS TOGETHER CANADA …
• The portal strictly adheres to all applicable privacy and health information standards to maintain the security and confidentiality of personal information. Vendors are bound by the privacy protective terms that are inserted in all contracts that involve personal information.
• The Government of Canada does not collect or store any personal information through the WTC portal or the PocketWell app.
• Personal information is kept private and confidential and is not sold or disclosed to other parties.
• Users can choose whether or not to register with WTC to use certain features of the Website or certain Services. Users can also delete their account and associated data at any time.

IF PRESSED ON HOW WELLNESS TOGETHER CANADA CAN SUPPORT INDIVIDUALS WITHOUT INTERNET ACCESS …
• Many supports available through the Wellness Together Canada portal can be accessed without internet access.
• For example, confidential chat sessions with social workers, psychologists and other professionals can be accessed by phone and text.

IF PRESSED ON HOW WELLNESS TOGETHER CANADA CAN SUPPORT INDIVIDUALS EXPERIENCING GRIEF …
• Wellness Together Canada provides a range of mental health supports, which includes access to 24/7 counselling by phone and text. All counsellors are able to support individuals with the grief they face.
• The portal also features new dedicated grief content, including informational resources and a telephonic 1-on-1 Grief Loss and Coaching Program, provided by Homewood Health.

IF PRESSED ON POCKETWELL…
• Supporting the mental health and well-being of Canadians is a priority for our Government. In January 2022, Wellness Together Canada launched a companion app called PocketWell, which will help increase awareness and accessibility of available mental health and substance use resources.
• Through PocketWell, individuals can link to the portal to access resources ranging from self-assessment to customized support based on their assessment. Via the app, individuals can connect seamlessly to WTC for free and confidential virtual sessions with social workers, psychologists and other professionals.

Pressure on Existing Provincial/Territorial Mental Health Services

With Canadians physical distancing and isolated, there is an unprecedented need for virtual services, such as telehealth and other information lines (e.g., 811), and provinces/territories are not able to absorb the increased demand.
It is critical that Canadians have access to effective tools to self-monitor, promote their mental well-being, obtain credible and reliable information, and access services when deemed necessary. Canadians need to be re-assured that there are supports available to help alleviate their stress, fear and anxiety.
Government Actions and Investments to Improve Access to Mental Health Services and Address the Impacts of COVID-19 on Canadians’ Mental Health

2021 Mandate Commitments

The Government of Canada is committed to working with provinces, territories and other partners to promote access to high-quality mental health and substance use services for Canadians with a range of needs.
In support of this aim, the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions has been mandated with:
• Ensuring mental health care is treated as a full and equal part of the universal health care system;
• Understanding and addressing health inequities, including for Indigenous people, Black Canadians and vulnerable Canadians;
• Leading a whole-of-society approach to address substance use in Canada; and problematic substance use in Canada; and
• Working in collaboration with provinces/territories

To realize these objectives, the Minister will deliver on a comprehensive set of new and ongoing commitments, including establishing a permanent, ongoing Canada Mental Health Transfer to help expand the delivery of high quality and accessible mental health services, including for prevention and treatment.

Budget 2022 reaffirmed the intention of engaging provinces and territories on the development of a CMHT, which would provide a permanent and ongoing source of funding for mental health services.

Funding to Provincial and Territorial Governments

The Government of Canada is investing $5 billion over ten years to improve Canadians’ access to mental health services. The investment is being provided directly to provinces and territories via negotiated bilateral agreements to help them expand access to community-based mental health and addiction services for children and youth, integrated services for people with complex needs, and spread proven models of community mental health care and culturally appropriate interventions linked to primary health services.

In addition, on July 16, the Prime Minister announced a federal investment of more than $19 billion to help provinces and territories safely restart their economies and make our country more resilient to possible future waves of the virus. As part of this investment $500 million targeted immediate mental health and substance service needs, including strengthening the service infrastructure (workforce, targeted programs) to manage post-pandemic demands that have been exacerbated due to the pandemic by providing wrap-around care, harm reduction and evidence-based treatment services and programs.

Wellness Together Canada

Health Canada invested $130 million from 2020-22 in Wellness Together Canada, an online mental health and substance use support portal, and received $140 million in Budget 2022 to support the portal for two more years beginning in 2022-23. Launched in April 2020, Wellness Together Canada provides free and confidential online mental health and substance use supports accessible 24/7 to individuals across Canada in both official languages. Interpretation services are also available during phone sessions in over 200 languages and dialects. Through Wellness Together Canada, individuals in all provinces and territories have immediate access to supports ranging from self-assessment, educational content and self-guided programming, to peer support and confidential sessions with social workers, psychologists and other professionals. Supports are provided online as well as by phone and text for those without internet access. There are dedicated text lines for youth, adults and front line workers that provide immediate access to support. There is also a dedicated phone line for accessing Program Navigators that can assist with finding resources on the portal. Wellness Together Canada augments existing provincial and territorial services, and does not replace them.

Wellness Together Canada is led by a consortium of three organizations:

• Stepped Care Solutions is an interdisciplinary and cross-sector team of clinician-researchers, leaders and pioneers in the areas of Stepped Care 2.0 and e-mental health.
• Kids Help Phone is Canada’s only 24/7 national service offering support to young people via phone, text and live chat, and is a global leader in developing and delivering virtual mental health solutions.
• Homewood Health is a Canadian leader in the development and delivery of national, evidence-based mental health, trauma, and addiction treatment and services.

National Standards for Mental Health and Substance Use Services

Budget 2021 provided $45 million over two years, starting in 2021-22, to Health Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to help develop national mental health service standards, in collaboration with provinces and territories, health organizations, and key stakeholders.

On March 14, 2022, Health Canada announced a partnership with Standards Council of Canada (SCC) to develop national standards for mental health and substance use services, to help fulfil commitments made in Budget 2021. Standards will be evidence-based and developed through consensus-based processes that engage experts, health organizations, people with lived and living experience, and other key stakeholders. Standards are tools for supporting health providers in the delivery of high-quality and equitable mental health and substance use services, and will help to ensure a consistent level of care is provided. They will also help to formalize what Canadians can expect in terms of the quality of services, while providing an evidence-based framework for service delivery in priority areas.

SCC is coordinating the development of an integrated suite of national standards for mental health and substance use services in priority areas that align with the Common Statement of Principles on Shared Health Priorities (CSOP). The Government has emphasized the importance of engagement with diverse stakeholders and promotion of health equity principles, which have been incorporated into the development process.

Support for the Mental Health Needs of Those Most Affected by COVID-19

Budget 2021 provides support to address the mental health needs of populations disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The government will provide:
• $100 million over three years to support projects that promote mental health and prevent mental illness in populations disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including health care workers, front-line workers, youth, seniors, First Nations, Inuit and Métis, and Black and other racialized Canadians.
• $50 million to support projects to address posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and trauma in frontline workers and others who are most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Promoting Mental Health and Preventing Mental Illness

Through the Public Health Agency of Canada’s (PHAC) Mental Health Promotion Innovation Fund, the Government of Canada is investing $39 million from 2019-2028 to support interventions that promote protective factors and address risk factors to promote mental health for children, youth, young adults and their caregivers, with a focus on populations susceptible to mental health inequities (e.g., low-income families, immigrants and refugees, First Nations, Inuit, Métis, LGBTQ2+).

On March 29, 2020, the Prime Minister announced an investment of $7.5 million to Kids Help Phone to provide crisis supports for children and youth during the COVID-19 pandemic.
$9 million is being provided to the United Way (through New Horizons) for practical services for seniors.

The Promoting Health Equity: Mental Health of Black Canadians Fund is investing $10 million to support community-based projects across Canada.

In addition, the 2020 Fall Economic Statement announced a $50 million investment to bolster the capacity of distress centres, which are experiencing a surge in demand during the COVID-19 pandemic. PHAC is administering an initial round of grants to 57 distress centres in winter/spring 2021. A portion of funds will support an additional round of grants in fiscal year 2021-22. In addition, $2 million of this funding will support the development of resources to assist distress centres in meeting the needs of diverse and vulnerable populations.

Suicide Prevention

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) recently announced that it will adopt 9-8-8 for Canadians to call or text when in need of immediate mental health crisis and suicide prevention support. This will be launched across Canada on November 30, 2023.

In parallel, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is preparing for implementation of a three-digit number for suicide prevention from a service delivery perspective. On August 31, 2022, PHAC announced that the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) was selected to lead coordination of 9-8-8 service delivery, building on its experience delivering Talk Suicide Canada. As a first step, CAMH will develop collaborations with key organizations to start building capacity, and engage with stakeholders to inform the scope and requirements of a timely, quality service. In addition, PHAC is engaging stakeholders from a range of sectors, including Provinces and Territories, Indigenous partners, public safety officials, People with Lived Experience, on the scope and service delivery elements, including working to understand anticipated demand for 9-8-8. Finally, PHAC is learning from international experience, including the United States, which recently introduced 988 in July 2022.

The Government of Canada is investing $21 million over five years in the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) to implement and sustain a fully operational pan-Canadian suicide prevention service with its partners. Talk Suicide Canada currently provides 24/7 suicide crisis support via the phone (1-833-456-4566), in English and French, 24 hours a day, seven days a week and by text (45645), in English and French, in the evenings, to people in Canada.

The Federal Framework for Suicide Prevention was released November 2016. It focuses on raising public awareness, reducing stigma, disseminating information and data, and promoting the use of research and evidence-based practices. Progress Reports on the Framework are available on Canada.ca, with the next report planned for release in December 2022. In response to motion M-174, which called on the Government of Canada to establish a national suicide prevention action plan and was unanimously supported by parliamentarians in 2019, the Public Health Agency of Canada is developing an action plan that aligns with the Framework.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Pursuant to the Federal Framework on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Act, Canada’s first Federal Framework on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was tabled in Parliament on January 22, 2020, and made public on February 13, 2020. To inform the development of the Framework, in accordance with the Act, the Minister of Health convened a National Conference on PTSD in April 2019 with the Ministers of National Defence, Veterans Affairs, and Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, partners and stakeholders, including people with lived-experience. The Government of Canada is now working with partners on the implementation of the Framework. The Act requires the Public Health Agency of Canada to report on the effectiveness of the Framework within five years of its release (by February 2025).

Mobilizing Data and Evidence

Between 2017-18 and 2021-22, CIHR invested approximately $180 million in mental health and behavioural disorders research.

CIHR is leading the COVID-19 and Mental Health Research Initiative (CMH) in collaboration with PHAC and Health Canada. This initiative supports 101 research projects, representing a total investment of $13.7 million from CIHR and partners. This work is guided by an Expert Advisory Panel composed of leading Canadian experts in mental health and substance use. New knowledge generated through these projects will be mobilized to ensure it will inform policy making in a timely manner.

Between 2017-18 and 2021-22, CIHR invested approximately $180 million to address various issues related to substance use.

In 2014, CIHR established a national research network in problematic substance use called the Canadian Research Initiative in Substance Misuse (CRISM). In 2022, the Government of Canada renewed its investment in CRISM with a total investment of $17M over 6 years, beginning in 2022-2023, and looks to build and expand on the successes of the Initiative’s first phase by increasing the number of Regional Nodes to enhance geographic coverage (i.e. creating a new stand-alone node for the Atlantic region) while maintaining the “Network of Networks” and expanding capacity (including the creation of an Indigenous Platform and a Coordinating Centre).

In addition to priority-driven investments to CRISM, CIHR is supporting five grants to evaluate program implementation and short-term impact of safer supply pilot projects (SSPPs), as well as supervised consumption sites (SCS) across Canada. This represents a total investment of over $2.2 million (plus a supplement of $900K).

CIHR also invested $1.5 million to support evaluation of interventions implemented across Canada in response to the opioid crisis through the Evaluation of Interventions to Address the Opioid Crisis Funding Opportunity.

In March 2020, CIHR supported 7 projects on methamphetamine and related psychostimulant use, totaling $700,000. This funding supports research in diverse areas including effectiveness of existing treatment options, harm reduction strategies, sociocultural impacts of methamphetamine use and epidemiology of methamphetamine use and associated disorders.

In March 2022, CIHR announced $2M in funding to support 20 one-year catalyst grants on alcohol. These projects will strengthen the evidence base and expand alcohol research in key areas, foster alcohol-related research capacity, and inform the development of future larger scale research projects.

Statistics Canada developed and administers a web panel survey, the “Canadian Perspectives Survey Series”. Each month, approximately 4,600 people in the 10 provinces have been responding to the new iteration of the survey. In addition, in collaboration with Statistics Canada, PHAC funded two cycles of data for the Survey on COVID-19 and Mental Health (with a third cycle in development) to better understand the wider impacts of the pandemic on mental health in Canada. A special collection of research articles based on the first cycle of data was released in the Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention Journal on September 27, 2021. The Canadian Community Health Survey also resumed in September 2020. The Canadian Community Health Survey provides data on a variety of mental health indicators, and has been collected for many years prior to the pandemic. It will allow for ongoing measurement of changes in mental health of the Canadian population as the pandemic continues and as Canada recovers.

On a quarterly basis, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and Health Canada collaborate to publish the most recent data available on opioid- and stimulant-related harms in Canada. This includes apparent opioid- and stimulant-related acute toxicity deaths and hospitalizations, and Emergency Medical Services responses to suspected opioid-related overdoses. Recognizing that harms related to opioids, stimulants, and other substances extend beyond overdoses (poisonings) and deaths, PHAC and Health Canada continue to work with federal, provincial and territorial partners to build a broad understanding of harms and substances involved to better respond to this public health crisis.

Health Canada conducts the Canadian Alcohol and Drugs Survey (CADS), a general population survey of alcohol and drug use among Canadians aged 15 years and older. Health Canada also conducts the Canadian Student Tobacco Alcohol and Drugs Survey (CSTADS) to collect information on tobacco use, alcohol and drug use, as well as information on bullying, mental health, and school connectedness among students in grades 7 to 12 (secondary I through V in Quebec) in ten Canadian provinces. Understanding Canadian trends in alcohol and drug use is vital to the effective development, implementation and evaluation of national and provincial strategies, policies and programs.

Launched in 2019, Health Canada’s Canadian Postsecondary Education Alcohol and Drug Use Survey (CPADS) collects data on the prevalence and patterns of substance use and associated harms among postsecondary (college and university) students aged 17 – 25 across Canada. Surveys like the CPADS provide governments and non-governmental organizations with valuable information that can inform substance use policies and programs that support youth and young adults.

Additionally, with evidence showing that street-involved youth are among the most at risk for drug harms, in 2021, Health Canada developed the People With Lived and Living Experience Survey (PWLLES) to gain a better understanding of the situation of street-involved youth aged 14-24 years in Canada who used substances such as alcohol, tobacco, cannabis or other drugs in the past 12 months.

Mental Illness Surveillance

As part of its mandate, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is pursuing ongoing surveillance of mental illness in the Canadian community. It uses multiple data sources to provide the most up to date evidence available, including the Canadian Chronic Disease Surveillance System (CCDSS), the Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth (CHSCY) and the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS).

The CCDSS is a collaborative network of provincial and territorial chronic disease surveillance systems, supported by PHAC. It identifies chronic disease cases among all residents who are eligible for provincial or territorial health insurance, and contains aggregated data that can be stratified by age, sex and geographical locations. The CCDSS enables to track and report on health services use for mental illness and alcohol/drug induced disorders overall, for mood and anxiety disorders, as well as for schizophrenia in the Canadian population.

The 2019 Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth (CHSCY) is a national, cross-sectional survey that provides health-related information on Canadian children and youth. The survey is representative of the Canadian population aged 1 to 17 years as of January 31, 2019, living in private dwellings in Canada's ten provinces and three territories.

As well, to help address data gaps around the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on individuals, families, and communities in terms of their mental health (including symptoms of anxiety and depression, and of post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD]), PHAC partnered with Statistics Canada in the development of the Survey on COVID-19 and mental health. The survey contains information on the proportion of Canadians who screened positive for these conditions by age group and gender, and look at the more at-risk groups. These surveys were conducted at various times during the COVID-19 pandemic and provide timely information on the impact of the pandemic on the mental health and well-being of Canadians.

Mental Health and Substance Use Research (CSCB)

The Government of Canada recognizes the intersection between mental health and substance use. Approximately 20% of Canadians with a mental illness have a co-occurring substance use disorder, and 50% of those engaged in treatment for substance use are also living with mental illness.approximately 50% of those engaged in treatment for substance use are also living with mental illness.

In October 2020, recognizing the intersection between mental health and substance use, Canadian Centre for Substance use and Addiction (CCSA) and the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) signed a Memorandum of Agreement to work on joint initiatives in this area.

Currently the two pan-Canadian Health Organizations are working on an evidence review on promising practices, interventions and policy recommendations to screen and assess suicide risk among individuals with higher risk substance use
.
They are also exploring the development of pan-Canadian operational guidelines for integrated mental health and substance use service delivery, with the goal of providing concrete and actionable guidance for the implementation of an integrated approach for mental health and substance use.

Public surveys from the CCSA and the MHCC found that mental health symptoms and substance use have increased since March 2020.They also found that those with a history of mental health or substance use concerns were disproportionately impacted by stresses related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• The Federal Government is currently funding Kids Help Phone close to $15 million over 36 months, from 2020-23.
• We are investing $5 billion over ten years to provinces and territories to help them expand access, which includes community-based mental health and addiction services for children and youth.
• The Promoting Health Equity: Mental Health of Black Canadians Fund is investing $10 million to support community-based projects across Canada.
• The Government is currently investing $21M over five years in the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) to implement and sustain Talk Suicide Canada. This service provides 24/7 suicide crisis support via the phone (1-833-456-4566) and via text (45645) in both English and French.
• The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission recently announced that it will adopt 9-8-8 for Canadians to call or text when in need of immediate mental health crisis and suicide prevention support. This will be launched across Canada on November 30, 2023.
• Through Budget 2021, the Government of Canada provided $100 million over three years to support projects that promote mental health and prevent mental illness in populations disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The Government provided $50 million to support projects to address posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and trauma in frontline workers and others who are most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.