Expanding our focus: youth mental health

Canada is facing a youth mental health crisis. Youth, ages 16 – 24 report experiencing mental health and substance use challenges at higher rates compared to older Canadians.¹ Yet, despite this urgent need, young people continue to face significant barriers to care, including long wait times, limited representation in decision-making, and fragmented, often inaccessible, or discriminatory campus supports.

To bridge these gaps, we will be launching a new Youth Mental Health signature GreenShield Cares initiative in 2025.  By leveraging data-driven insights, community partnerships, and best-in-class technology, we aim to deliver a comprehensive solution to improve mental health outcomes for youth.  

As part of our solution, and in partnership with Mental Health Research Canada, we are introducing the Youth Mental Health Data Hub: Canada’s most comprehensive resource to aggregate data on the diverse mental health needs of youth across Canada. For the first time, Canadian researchers, policymakers, and educators can access an interactive dashboard that provides mental health data and trends on Canadian youth across multiple indicators, including gender identity, income level, location, and racial background.  

The Data Hub’s interactive dashboard harnesses robust insights from over 25,000 Canadians to provide a holistic view of youth mental health. As the first resource to unite Canada’s leading youth mental health datasets, the dashboard offers a first-of-its-kind data source that reveals critical gaps in navigation, access, and affordability across diverse sociodemographic youth groups.  

The Youth mental Health Data Hub is a crucial first step to help us better understand young people’s needs so we can connect them to the right care, at the right time.