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Older Adults

What is the issue?

With the growth in our aging population, mental health problems and illnesses among older adults are likely to affect every family. If not addressed, the increasing pressure on the health-care system will have significant social and economic impacts.

To meet this challenge, community-based services and primary care providers have a vital role in helping people to stay mentally well and manage mental health problems and illnesses as they age.

Services and policies to support their care must also seek to reduce the overlapping stigmas they face: from being older and from living with a mental health problem or illness. Older adults from the 2SLGBTQ+ community and other backgrounds or cultures may encounter additional stigma.

What are we doing?

We have developed a range of projects to help policy makers, service providers, and caregivers ensure that older Canadians get the mental health supports they need.

Guidelines and tools

Guidelines for Comprehensive Mental Health Services for Older Adults in Canada (Guidelines) is designed to help policy makers and service providers plan, develop, and implement a mental health service system that better responds to the aging population.
Summary: Guidelines for Comprehensive Mental Health Services for Older Adults in Canada
Compendium of Good Practices for Improving Seniors Mental Health in Canada, a resource to support the implementation of the Guidelines
Supporting Older Adults: Using Principles and Values to Promote Best Practice, a checklist designed to help individuals and organizations put the Guideline’s principles and values into action.
Applying the Guidelines for Comprehensive Mental Health Services for Older Adults in Canada during COVID-19, a resource discussing how the Guidelines can be leveraged in a COVID-19 context

Mental Health First Aid

MHFA Seniors is a course to increase the capacity of older adults and their families (informal caregivers), friends, care-setting staff, and communities to promote mental health.

Mental health promotion

Age-friendly communities (from the Public Health Agency of Canada)
Fountain of Health
Living Life to the Full (from the Canadian Mental Health Association – Ontario)

Related Initiatives

Improving Access

E-mental health with stepped care

Engaging Caregivers

Informing the Future

Mental Health Indicators for Canada

Recovery

Resources

The Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) has developed a range of projects to help policy makers, service providers, and caregivers ensure that older Canadians get the mental health supports they need.

Jun 02, 2022

Older adults and suicide – Fact sheet

People 65 years and older, especially men, have a high risk of suicide. As Canada’s largest population group, the baby boomers, approach the plus 65 age range, we may see...

Apr 20, 2022

Winter Webinar Series: Experiences in Cannabis and Mental Health

This three-part webinar series, co-hosted by the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, focuses on emerging research about the impact of legalization for a range of priority populations across...

Dec 13, 2021

Mental Health and Substance Use During COVID-19: Spotlight on Youth, Older Adults & Stigma

Serious impact from COVID-19 on mental health and substance use continues, especially among youth A new report from the series of Leger polls commissioned by the Mental Health Commission of...

Sep 15, 2021

Applying the Guidelines for Comprehensive Mental Health Services for Older Adults in Canada during COVID-19

While mental health in older adults is as important as mental health in any other stage of life, it does not always receive the attention and services that it requires....

Sep 15, 2021

Supporting Older Adults’ Mental Health: Using principles and values to promote best practice

The following principles and values are intended to guide the development of policies, programs, and services that promote and support the mental health of older adults, as well as programs...

Sep 17, 2020

Caring for Older Adults During COVID-19

While COVID-19 has amplified conversations about mental well-being, some older adults may be unwilling or unable to discuss how the pandemic has affected them psychologically. This difficulty poses a unique...

Jun 10, 2020

How older adults can protect their mental wellness during COVID-19

No one is immune to the psychological toll of COVID-19-related restrictions. For older adults, however, the heightened fear of contracting the virus, a sudden decrease in connectivity, or the loss...

Oct 16, 2019

Community-Based Research Projects: Cannabis and Mental Health

The MHCC is funding 14 two-year projects (2020-22) to address knowledge gaps in the relationship between mental health and cannabis among priority populations.

Jan 01, 2019

Summary: Guidelines for Comprehensive Mental Health Services for Older Adults in Canada

Purpose Mental health and well-being are as important in older age as in other times of life. That is one reason the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) created Guidelines...