Which Canadians Are Not Accessing Mental Health Support?

ABOUT THE RESEARCH BRIEF

The data in this report was collected by Pollara Strategic Insights during our national mental health polling initiative between April 2021 and 2022.

The analysis in this report represents Canadians who indicated they needed mental health support, but did not access any. Respondents answered the follow-up question Why did you not access the support of a mental health professional?"

2080 Canadians answered the above question about their behaviour before the pandemic, and 3224 Canadians answered about their behaviour since the pandemic.

More details about the brief are revealed by interpreting the information alongside the Supplementary Appendix.

 

To build effective mental health services in Canada means to support Canadians who demonstrate the greatest need.

This begins with input from people with lived experience and other stakeholders who understand both the needs and where gaps exist in access to services. Our latest brief analyzes reliable data that tells the story of who these Canadians are and the barriers they face in accessing mental health support.


Our latest research brief identifies which Canadians are not accessing mental health support, and for what reasons. We also explore changes observed in these reasons since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Our demographic deep dive explores a range of characteristics including:

  • Gender identity

  • Identification with the LGBTQ2S+ community

  • Visible minority status

  • Student status

  • Motherhood

  • Physical impairment

  • Annual household income

  • Education level

  • Province of residence

The data reveals that these characteristics impact the reasons why Canadians are not accessing mental health support.

This research is the critical first step to identifying where the gaps in access to mental health support exist, and where improvements to mental health services can be made.


A collection of our previously released research briefs providing an in-depth investigation of our polling results can be found here.