New fund will boost mental health
$500-million program in federal budget aims to help ‘dire situation’ with youth
The world was turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Erin Clayton, director of quality assurance, research and planning for Pathstone Mental Health in St. Catharines, said youth mental health was “exacerbated” and “a need for mainstream conversation” arose.
Not only did the pandemic contribute to youth anxiety and depression that continues four years later, Clayton said it also forced organizations to change how to provide their services.
“It put a lot of strain on organizations,” she said. “It changed the world, it changed the services, but it also reduced the barriers.”
With the federal government proposing to create a $500-million youth mental-health fund — to be included in the Liberals’ 2024 budget announcement Tuesday — Clayton is looking at how those needed resources could assist the Pathstone’s services to youths.
“We are looking at reducing barriers and improving equity access,” said Clayton.
She said any additional funding would be used to provide training and get “more people into available services.”
The funding, $100 million annually to identified organizations, will focus on improving services and addressing growing wait-lists.
“We are trying to get ahead in an attempt to destigmatize mental health,” Filomena Tassi, the minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, said in a phone interview. “We recognize that more needs to be done.”
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Life is hard. We still see higher number of youths with anxiety and depression.
ERIN CLAYTON PATHSTONE MENTAL HEALTH
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland announced the creation of the health fund in Ottawa last week.
Tassi said an increasing number of youths continue to have problems with depression, isolation and anxiety.
“There seems to be a lack of normalcy for them,” said Tassi, who was a chaplain at Bishop Tonnos Catholic Secondary School in Ancaster for about 20 years before entering politics.
“I saw the potential in these youths,” said Tassi. “There were a number of youths who came to talk to us, but there were more who did not. We want to give them the supports that can help them. Youths want to contribute to society.”
Jen Schmaltz, general manager of marketing and philanthropy for YMCA of Niagara, said administrators are “optimistic and hope that the specifics of this fund will align with the services provided to the youth of Niagara.”
Schmaltz said there is a “longstanding need for additional resources to address youth mental health, which has been a pressing issue for several years in the Niagara area.”
Children’s Mental Health Ontario chief executive officer Tatum Wilson said the organization was “pleased” to hear of the proposed fund.
Wilson said children and youths continue to face increased mental-health issues “like never before,” citing “decades of chronic underfunding” in community health care.
Wilson added that the pandemic “has created a dire situation for mental health and wellbeing of young people and their families, especially for Black, Indigenous, racialized and other equity-deserving communities who are at higher risk of experiencing mental-health challenges.”
Clayton said the funding will help organizations expand their services so they can “cast a wider net” for youths seeking help.
“There is always a need,” she said. “Life is hard. We still see higher number of youths with anxiety and depression.”
Tassi said the Liberals have been improving mental-health programs across the country over the past several years by providing: $5 billion to the provinces and territories in 2017; $500 million to various organizations during the pandemic; $100 million for mentalhealth programs for healthcare workers; $140 million to support veterans’ mental health; and a national 988 mental-health crisis and suicide prevention hotline that became operational in late 2023.
Statistics Canada reported in 2021 on average more than 10 Canadians were dying by suicide every day.
Tassi said the $200-billion, 10year bilateral health-care agreements with all provinces and territories signed this year also included mental-health programs.
“Mental health is not new to us,” said Tassi. “The support has to be there. It’s an important investment and a significant one.”
In the first year of the pandemic, a meta-analysis of 29 studies involving 80,000 children revealed nearly 25 per cent of youths reported clinically elevated depression symptoms, including sadness and hopelessness, along with anxiety, worry and fear. Studies found there were higher rates of depression and anxiety symptoms for girls, including from moderate- to high-income families.
Studies also found there were increased rates of hospital emergency department visits by girls and hospitalizations for self-harm.
During the start of the pandemic in 2020, which included lockdowns and strict safety measures, youths experienced higher incidents of eating disorders than pre-pandemic.
Several organizations, including the Canadian Mental Health Association, have been calling on the federal government to increase funding for youth mental-health services. The Canadian Institute for Health Information found nearly half of young people who sought mental-health support found it difficult to access.