CMHA calls on government to respond to “echo pandemic”

Sep 2, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused extreme national anxiety with mental health effects like nothing we have seen before. Research suggests that Canadians will still be struggling with their mental health long after a vaccine is available. The Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) has made the case to the federal government that it must act now to respond to an “echo pandemic”. A healthy population and a healthy workforce will only be possible with the right mental health supports.

 “There can be no economic recovery from the pandemic without mental health,” says Margaret Eaton, CMHA’s National CEO. “People need early access to community services, instead of waiting for more intensive and expensive services down the road.”

 In order to meet the mental health needs in the COVID-19 recovery phase and beyond, CMHA recommends that the federal government:

1. Develop and implement a long-term mental health pandemic recovery plan.
2. Provide funding to expand evidence-based cognitive behavioural therapy to reach 30 000 Canadian youth and adults.
3. Provide funding to expand trauma-informed resilience training for Canadian front-line workers who have experienced job-related stress.
4. Provide funding for Indigenous-led mental health care to continue closing gaps in health outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.

 You can read CMHA’s full pre-budget submission here.