The Honourable Marjorie Michel
Minister of Health
The Honourable Rick Wilson
Minister of Mental Health and Addictions
Her Worship, Jyoti Gondek
Mayor of Calgary
Re: Open letter to all orders of government on improving mental heath care access in Alberta and Canada
Dear Ministers Michel, Wilson and Mayor Gondek,
On behalf of businesses and community organizations across Alberta and Canada, we write to you to bring urgent attention to the ongoing challenges Canadians face in accessing mental health services and to propose key recommendations that could significantly improve the state of mental health care across the country.
As you are deeply aware, mental health is a critical issue across Canada. Millions of individuals are affected by depression, anxiety and other mental health challenges – and this number continues to climb each year. The continued impacts of the pandemic, economic concerns such as our trade conflicts with our neighbours to the south, and geopolitical instability on a scale that we haven’t seen for decades are deeply impacting Canadian’s mental health. Crises and instability at a local, national and international scale are taking a toll across the nation. Each year, approximately 20% of Canadians experience mental health issues. However, only about one-third of those individuals seek help or treatment – roughly 6-7% of Canadian’s access counselling or mental health services annually. This means that there is approximately 14% of the Canadian population (nearly 6 million people) experiencing mental health issues, who are not seeking help or treatment.
As leaders in business and in community services, we know mental health is not just a social challenge; it is an economic challenge. It’s estimated as many as half a million Canadians miss work each week because of mental health issues, and 97 per cent of working Canadians say that mental health is the primary contributor to their well-being and the top factor in declining well-being. We can only have a strong and prosperous economy when we take care of the well-being of everyone.
Despite growing awareness and further initiatives to address this crisis – by decreasing stigma and improving care – a gap remains for many Canadians. While services are growing increasingly accessible, there is more work to be done. Developing improved wayfinding, and low-to-no barrier or cost solutions are imperative. For those experiencing mental health issues, access to services must be as simple and readily available as possible.
Currently, Canadians can face lengthy wait times for mental health services, including counselling and psychiatry. Access can vary greatly depending on an individual’s location, as provincial boundaries can prevent people from receiving care across jurisdictions. Furthermore, a shortage of psychiatrists and counsellors persists across the country, severely limiting the capacity of the system to meet the growing demand for mental health care that requires pharmaceutical and other supports. Significant cost barriers also exist for small businesses to access the mental health and wellness programs for their employees compared with larger businesses, leaving a significant gap for many workers.
Compounding these issues, many people who need mental health support may not be aware of programs that are available, and any real or perceived barriers to accessing can be extremely overwhelming for those struggling with mental health issues. In order to get people connected to the care they need, there must be greater visibility developed for existing services including wayfinding services.
Everyone has a role to play in supporting mental health – this is not just a problem for governments to solve – and we all must work together to ensure that people can access the supports they need. At the Chamber, we have teamed up with Cenovus Energy as our Mental Health Pillar Partner, host targeted events to discuss mental health in the workplace and have supported Woods Homes and the Calgary Distress Centre, among other mental health charitable organizations who work to help Calgarians needing mental health support.
Additionally, we have partnered with the Calgary Counselling Centre, and with the generous support of the City of Calgary’s Mental Health Strategy, we are pleased to provide our Mental Health Navigator service to help provide critical resources and support to businesses and their employees across the city. While we continue to progress in this area – and support businesses in their mental health work – we know issues persist.
To address these challenges, we are calling on all levels of government to work collaboratively to:
- Invest in outreach and promotion for existing mental health supports and wayfinding services available across the country and provinces. Key gaps continue to exist in access to mental health services – in wayfinding and ease of access. Mental health services need to be visible, accessible and feature the lowest barriers possible in order to reach the people that need them most. Programs currently available, such as Counselling Alberta or Access Mental Health must be advertised and supported to provide their services as smoothly as possible.
- Provide financial supports for startups and small businesses to access mental health and wellness programs for their employees, noting that smaller businesses often lack the ability to access mental health and wellness programs through health insurance providers. Small businesses need support to provide their employees with the mental health and wellness programs they need to thrive and not risk losing employees. Programming and supports should emphasize a preventative and proactive approach to mental health and wellness.
- Seek solutions for labour mobility in mental health service delivery. Consider what measures can be taken to alleviate barriers to labour mobility for social workers, counsellors, psychologists and psychiatrists across Canada. We encourage both the provincial and federal governments to work with professional associations and colleges and other regulatory bodies to eliminate these barriers and ensure virtual counselling services can be delivered seamlessly across provincial lines. All Canadians should have equal access to mental health services, regardless of where they live, and particularly given the rise in virtual care, labour mobility should be supported in both in emergency and non-emergency situations.
- Reduce barriers and training time for psychiatrists: There is a shortage of psychiatric professionals in Canada – the average wait time to see a psychiatrist exceeds 13 weeks, generally the only way to see a psychiatrist within a short time frame is in an emergency. No one should have to experience a profound decline in their mental health before being able to access psychiatric support. To expand the cohort of mental health professionals, it is essential to reduce the barriers that medical students face in pursuing psychiatry as a specialty. Reforms that streamline education and residency programs and support newcomer credentialling, while still allowing for high quality training are essential.
- Increase the capacity of post-secondary institutions to train mental health professionals. As crises increasingly impact the mental health of Canadians, an insufficient number of spaces to train mental health professionals – social workers, counsellors and Masters level psychologists exist across the country. Social workers, counsellors, Masters & PhD level psychologists and psychiatrists all play an important role in developing capacity to treat individuals experiencing mental health concerns.
Canadians are increasingly experiencing challenges with mental health, and we need urgent action to improve the access to mental health care services. The Calgary Chamber, and the businesses we represent, remain committed to doing our part to invest in our community, employees and their families – but we need a policy environment that enables investment in mental health care and prioritizes mental health care as much as physical health care.
We look forward to working with you to address this urgent matter, the need to improve Canadians mental health is imperative and it will take governments and business leaders working in partnership to make the real change needed. We look forward to working with all orders of governments and private sector leaders to improve mental health across Canada.
Sincerely,
Deborah Yedlin
President & CEO
Calgary Chamber of Commerce
