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Mental Health Strategy for Canada

This strategy was published in 2012. The data may be out of date.

The Mental Health Strategy for Canada

Changing Directions, Changing Lives, released in May 2012, is the first mental health strategy for Canada. It aims to help improve the mental health and well-being of all people living in Canada, and to create a mental health system that can truly meet the needs of people living with mental health problems and illnesses and their families.

A blueprint for change
Mental health concerns us all. Mother, father, neighbour, friend – one in five Canadians will experience a mental health problem or illness every year, with a cost of well over $50 billion to our economy. And many people either don’t seek or can’t get the services and supports they need to recover a meaningful life.

The Strategy draws on the experience, knowledge and wisdom of thousands of people across the country, and provides an opportunity for everyone’s efforts – large and small – to help bring about change.

Transforming Canada’s mental health system
A first phase of work was completed in 2009 with the release of Toward Recovery and Well-Being: A Framework for a Mental Health Strategy for Canada, which put forward a vision and broad goals for transforming the mental health system.

The Strategy translates this vision into 26 priorities and 109 recommendations for action, grouped under the following 6 Strategic Directions:

  1. Promote mental health across the lifespan in homes, schools, and workplaces, and prevent mental illness and suicide wherever possible.
  2. Foster recovery and well-being for people of all ages living with mental health problems and illnesses, and uphold their rights.
  3. Provide access to the right combination of services, treatments and supports, when and where people need them.
  4. Reduce disparities in risk factors and access to mental health services, and strengthen the response to the needs of diverse communities and Northerners.
  5. Work with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis to address their mental health needs, acknowledging their distinct circumstances, rights and cultures.
  6. Mobilize leadership, improve knowledge, and foster collaboration at all levels.

To see a summary of our internal review of the Strategy as well as Health Canada’s evaluation click here.

Join the conversation: #MHCCstrategy

Related Initiatives
Informing the Future

Mental Health Indicators for Canada

Stigma and Discrimination

Changing How We See Mental Ilness

Resources

The Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) created Changing Directions, Changing Lives: The Mental Health Strategy for Canada to draw on the experience, knowledge and wisdom of thousands of people across the country and provide an opportunity for everyone’s efforts – large and small – to help bring about change. We are using this foundational document to map a course of action. Click on the links below for more information.

THE STONY PLAIN EARLY ADOPTER COMMUNITY Stony Plain is part of a tri-region area (with Spruce Grove and Parkland County) that lies west of Edmonton and has a combined population…

Innovative guiding principle: Attempt, evaluate, and share creative and innovative ideas to advance suicide prevention efforts globally. Flexible guiding principle: While standardization is important when comparing communities or tracking progress…

Sustainable guiding principle: Design initiatives that allow for continued funding and leadership. The Sustainable guiding principle puts the focus on the strategies Roots of Hope project teams can use to…

Measurement and evaluation guiding principle: Measure outcomes and evaluate interventions to determine their effectiveness and inform future innovations. The Measurement and Evaluation guiding principle is about generating meaningful insights through…

Strengths-based guiding principle: Build on existing strengths rather than on identifying and closing gaps. Recovery-oriented guiding principle: Focus suicide prevention efforts on giving people hope, treating them with dignity, and…

Culturally Appropriate guiding principle: Develop, implement, and evaluate interventions that respect a diversity of cultures and are responsive and appropriate (for the overall community and specific subpopulations). Lived Experience guiding…

Collaboration/Coordination guiding principle: Design programs to enhance collaboration among stakeholders. Collaboration/Coordination is the Roots of Hope guiding principle that generated the most comments and insights from the project leads interviewed…

Comprehensive guiding principle: Use multiple interventions geared toward a wide range of individuals across a varietyof settings. Span the continuum guiding principle: Address suicide across the entire spectrum, including prevention,…

This backgrounder highlights emerging data on structural and self-stigma experienced by individuals with mental health or substance use disorder in Canada. The backgrounder provides an overview of purpose, key findings,…

What am I getting wrong about mental health? While people in Canada are talking about mental health more than ever, misconceptions in the media and elsewhere are keeping the stigma…

The natural environment is changing, and people are worried about what it means for the future. That worry, which is increasingly becoming severe enough to cause distress and dysfunction, is…

This webinar discusses the impact of COVID-19 on mental health and substance use health in Canada’s 2SLGBTQ+ communities. It is presented in partnership with the Canadian Centre on Substance Use…