Moving from Awareness to Action on Youth Mental Health

Young Canadians are grappling with unprecedented levels of stress, persistent uncertainty, and a myriad of mental health and wellness challenges. This troubling trend is widely acknowledged, yet the fragmented data on youth access to mental health supports and services makes it difficult to back up our understanding and determine impactful actions.

For instance, despite 70 per cent of Canadians with a mental illness showing symptoms before the age of 18, fewer than 20 per cent receive appropriate treatment. Among them, 29 per cent of Canadian youth are unsure how to access support, 30 per cent of students can’t afford it, and 18 per cent of racialized youth struggle to find culturally sensitive care. 

With youth mental health services in Canada fragmented and difficult to access, too many young people are left without the care they need. GreenShield, Canada’s only national non-profit health and benefits company, is addressing these gaps head-on to ensure young people can access the right care at the right time.

GreenShield tackles Canada’s most pressing health challenges with data-driven solutions to advance their mission of Better Health for All. Their new Youth Mental Health initiative is built on a foundation of evidence to ensure scalable, sustainable solutions drive real impact. The initiative starts with their Youth Mental Health Data Hub, developed in partnership with Mental Health Research Canada (MHRC). The publicly available dashboard centralizes data from leading youth organizations to analyze key social and demographic factors and identify trends shaping the lives of young Canadians.  

With insights from over 25,000 Canadians, the Data Hub provides a holistic view of youth mental health in Canada to help policymakers, academics, and other health care stakeholders identify challenges and develop community-specific solutions, driving action out of informed awareness.

Mental Health for All Includes Youth

GreenShield and MHRC unveiled the Data Hub on April 8 during a co-hosted “Mental Health for All” event at Toronto’s Aga Khan Museum.

Averi Doxtator, President of the Indigenous Youth Council, shared personal challenges and the importance of seeking out support through community during the “Breaking the Barriers” panel discussion moderated by Sarah Fulford, Editor-in-Chief of Maclean’s. 

“There’s an overwhelming sense of loss of hope among urban Indigenous youth caused by generational and systemic oppression and racism, which has deeply affected their self-worth and how we feel valued by Canadian society and even our own communities,” said Doxtator. 

“I sought out the national friendship centres when I moved to Toronto, and they immediately welcomed me, helped me find what I needed around the city, offered mental health, housing, and employment support – every urban Indigenous youth needs this sense of community.”

Advancing the Issue: Youth Mental Health

“At GreenShield, we fundamentally believe that healthcare is a right, not a privilege,” said Zahid Salman, GreenShield’s President and CEO. “Guided by our mission of Better Health for All, we focus our efforts and prioritize investments in areas where our services and funding can have the greatest impact – especially for the populations too often left behind.”  

Established as a non-profit, GreenShield is uniquely positioned to focus on the needs of Canadians without the constraints of short-term shareholder profits, focusing on long-term impact and creating lasting change. Through GreenShield Cares, they reinvest excess earnings to support underserved communities, and they are on track to achieve their goal to reinvest $75 million to positively impact at least one million Canadians by the end of 2025. 

“We take an innovative approach to social impact, ensuring our initiatives drive sustainable and meaningful change,” said Mandy Mail, EVP, Head of Marketing, Corporate Affairs, and GreenShield Cares.  “We’re focused on building a healthier, more equitable future for Canadians by leveraging our service capabilities and committing to reinvest at least 15% of our annual earnings to champion mental health and chronic disease management for underserved communities, including Canadian youth.” Mail added. 

The Healing Power of Partnerships

“We discovered that a monolithic approach to ‘youth’ as a category and a lack of consolidated data due to organizations working in silos was contributing to the growing gap in our understanding of how young Canadians are engaging with mental health supports” Michael Cooper, MHRC’s VP of Development and Strategic Partnerships, told Maclean’s during a live demo of the Data Hub ahead of its official launch.

Mail added, “Recognizing the need for collaboration, we served as a purpose-driven impartial convener.  The Data Hub was built with MHRC and key organizations like Jack.org, Canadian Institute for Health Information, Integrated Youth Services and other partners; uniting the right partners to drive collective progress.”

For MHRC’s CEO Akela Peoples, partnering with GreenShield on the Youth Mental Health Data Hub was a more than natural fit, “since we’ve been working together on a number of initiatives since the pandemic, and we’re always excited by new opportunities to deepen our partnership. No one organization can solve the enormity of Canadians’ mental health challenges alone, and GreenShield’s leadership in bringing leading organizations together is impressive. Collective impact is what will drive change.”

“Forward-looking leaders understand that workplace wellness is more than an HR initiative, it’s a holistic commitment on the part of their organization to their employees,” Peoples told Maclean’s as the event concluded with a special performance by Serena Ryder.  “With leading organizations coming together to collaborate, we can transform our new awareness gained through the Data Hub’s invaluable insights into effective action and impactful policy.”