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HomeWhat We DoOlder Adults

Older Adults

The photo shows a group of five seniors in exercise clothes who look happy.

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

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Taking care of health-care workers

 

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.

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Mental health promotion

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.

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…

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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…

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….

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…

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…

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…

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.

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…