Better Together
Quality Mental Health Care Network
Reimagining access to services, reclaiming hope in the face of loss; every aspect of our work is enriched and informed by the wisdom of expertise.
What is the network?
Co-led by HealthCareCAN and the Mental Health Commission of Canada, the Quality Mental Health Care Network (QMHCN), established in 2019, unites health-sector leaders from across the country to help improve access to quality mental health care, including stigma reduction, support recovery oriented practices and promote the psychological health and safety of health care workers.
The QMHCN builds on the work of the former By Health, For Health collaborative, a group of 20 health-care organizations committed to providing psychologically healthy and safe work environments in health care.
What the network is doing?
Following the 2025 release of the revised Quality Mental Health Care Framework, a key tool for developing leading practices in quality mental health care, and the accompanying Implementation Toolkit, the network is currently working to address the needs of our communities.
An infographic has been developed that describes the framework’s eight dimensions, which can be used to fuse efforts to address quality mental health care for patients and providers alike. The framework focuses on putting the patient at the centre of quality mental health care and is structured around their perspective.
The Mental Health Commission of Canada and HealthCareCAN released the Quality Mental Health Care Framework Implementation Toolkit in October 2025. This toolkit serves as a guide for health-care organizations in Canada on applying the Quality Mental Health Care Framework and its dimensions to their organizational practice.
The toolkit has been developed to support health-care providers, people with lived and living experience, administrators, health-care policy advisors, and decision makers in health-care organizations. It will assist users to embed quality mental health care practices into their unique workplace environment.
A PowerPoint overview of the Quality Mental Health Care Framework has been developed to help raise awareness within organizations and get buy-in to implement it. It includes links to resources that can assist users in bringing the framework’s eight dimensions to life.
Webinars
In the Quality Mental Health Care Framework Webinar, an overview of the Quality Mental Health Care Framework and the Implementation Toolkit is given, then two health-care experts and a person with lived experience explore what equitable access to quality care looks like.
In Reducing structural stigma in health-care settings, the Mental Health Commission of Canada and the Ontario Network of CAPC/CPNP Projects (Canadian Action Program for Children and the Canada Prenatal Nutrition Program) describe how to identify structural stigma in various health-care settings and discuss learning strategies, tools, and principles to successfully dismantle it.
In A Vision Quality Mental Health Care for All, Quality Mental Health Care Network health leaders discuss their vision – based on the Quality Mental Health Care Framework – for improving the quality of mental health care for both service users and health-care workers.
In Toward Quality Mental Health Care: Dismantling Structural Stigma, health-care experts explore the stigma-free and inclusive dimension of the Quality Mental Health Care Framework, focusing on the crucial concept of structural stigma.
A Vision for Quality Mental Health Care for All
Please note that these webinars make reference to the original Quality Mental Health Care Framework and its 10 dimensions. Although out of date, these webinars provide a valuable overview on quality mental health care.A brief video about an individual’s overwhelming journey to access quality mental health care. Learn how you and your organization can improve the experience for all. Explore the Quality Mental Health Care Framework’s 10 quality of care dimensions — for patients and providers alike.
A document that provides an overview of the QMHCN, the development of the framework, and the components of quality mental health care.
“The Quality Mental Health Care Network: A Roadmap to Improving Quality Mental Healthcare in Canada,” published by Healthcare Management Forum in January 2021, discusses findings from the scan, interviews, and focus groups used to develop the framework.
Advancing Mental Health Care in Canada: Quality Mental Health Care Framework - Journal article
“Advancing mental healthcare in Canada: The development and dissemination of the quality mental healthcare implementation toolkit,” published by Healthcare Management Forum in September 2025, discusses the revision of the Quality Mental Health Care Framework and the findings from the environmental scans and focus groups that were used during the revision process, and it touches on the Implementation Toolkit.