As we prepare to celebrate World Mental Health Day on October 10th, 34 years after the day was first observed, it’s worth asking: How much progress has Canada made when it comes to mental health?
World Mental Health Day was first observed in 1992 as an initiative by the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH). The purpose wasn’t to “celebrate” mental health but to raise awareness and encourage efforts to support people facing mental health issues.
First proposed by George Brock Chisholm, a Canadian psychiatrist and the first Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), the WFMH was intended to be an international organization that could bring together mental health groups worldwide. The WFMH was officially established in 1948, more than four decades before the first World Mental Health Day.
More than three decades since the first World Mental Health Day, the conversation around mental health has changed. Today we talk more openly about mental health in our homes, schools, workplaces and communities. Seeking help is more encouraged, personal experiences are more public, and mental health has become a much larger part of our overall wellbeing. But increased awareness doesn’t necessarily mean Canadians are getting the support that they need. To understand how much progress we’ve made, we need to look beyond the conversations and see what Canadians are actually experiencing.
The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) reports that about one in three Canadians will experience a mental health diagnosis in their lifetime. In 2024, among Canadian adults with a diagnosed mental health disorder, 41% said their mental health care needs were only partially met or completely unmet. For children and youth that figure was 36% and rose to 52% among young adults aged 18-34.
The pressure on services helps explain those gaps. According to CIHI, wait times for community mental health counselling increased by 36% between 2020 and 2024. In 2024 and 2025, only half of Canadians who were referred to community mental health counselling received care within 30 days of the initial referral.
We’ve spent decades encouraging people to reach out for help, but what happens when they finally do?
There are still positives. Mental Health Research Canada (MHRC) reported in September 2024 that 28% of Canadians said their mental health had improved over the previous year, compared to 19% who said that it had declined. The challenge now is to ensure that more people receive that support when they need it, while continuing to work toward seeking mental health being as acceptable as seeking physical health care. Did you know that 18% of Canadians still view seeking mental health support as a sign of weakness, and 39% said fear of judgment prevents them from talking about mental health with others. Combined, this is nearly two in five Canadians.
Access to care can also depend on what Canadians can afford. MHRC found that of the Canadians that accessed mental health support, 53% used privately funded services, while only 32% relied on public health insurance for mental health. Their research also found that Canadians with lower household incomes were less likely to access mental health supports, particularly private services. This raises another important question: If getting the care you need depends on your ability to pay for it, how accessible is mental health care?
These statistics paint an imperfect picture, but they don’t mean we haven’t made progress. The fact that we are having these conversations, measuring where Canadians are being underserved, and continuing to push for better access is progress in and of itself. Perhaps most importantly, the data shows that support can make a difference.
Maybe that’s where the meaning of World Mental Health Day has changed. In 1992, raising awareness was an important place to start. More than three decades later, awareness is still important, but now we need to turn awareness into action. That means continuing to break down the stigma that keeps people from speaking up, listening when someone tells us they are struggling and working towards a system where asking for help is met with accessible support. We may not be where we need to be yet, but the conversations happening today are part of how we get there.
This World Mental Health Day, let’s recognize the progress we’ve made without losing sight of the work still ahead. Keep talking. Keep listening. Keep checking in on the people around you. Thirty-four years later, the conversation has changed. Now it’s time to make sure the support changes with it.
