National Standards for Mental Health Services
The National Standards for Mental Health Services Initiative supports research to inform the development of national standards for mental health and/or substance use services to ensure all Canadians can access the support they need, when they need it.
All Canadians should have timely and equitable access to effective, evidence-based, culturally safe and appropriate mental health and substance use care. Before the pandemic began, almost one in ten Canadians reported that their mental health care needs were not met, and evidence is showing that this number continues to rise.
Budget 2021 committed $45 million over two years, starting in 2021-22 to Health Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and CIHR, to help develop national mental health service standards, in collaboration with provinces and territories, health organizations, and key stakeholders. Specifically, CIHR will support innovative health research and knowledge mobilization to inform equitable mental health and/or substance use service standards development and future evaluation. Standards will be developed to align with the Common Statement of Principles on Shared Health Priorities agreed upon by Health Ministers across all provinces and territories. The Government of Canada is partnering with the Standards Council of Canada to coordinate the development of these standards.
There remain many unknowns about how service standards (i.e., standards or principles to guide service delivery at the organizational level) are implemented and influence health outcomes or improved care. New national standards for mental health services may improve service delivery, health outcomes, and care, but there is an urgent need for high-quality research to inform their development. Through this recent investment in mental health services research, CIHR is helping to inform national standards for mental health services so Canadians can access the support they need, when they need it.
Integrated Youth Services – Network of Networks (IYS-Net)
IYS-Net will play a prominent role in informing Canada’s National Standards for Mental Health Services, a Government of Canada priority outlined in Budget 2021.
IYS-Net will contribute evidence and knowledge to inform the development of pan-Canadian standards for mental health and substance use services in IYS (e.g., standards for data gathering, quality of services, access to care, culturally informed care, and engaging youth and families in service design and delivery).
To learn more about the initiative and why it matters, please visit the IYS-Net webpage.
Funding
CIHR-INMHA leads the development of research funding opportunities to inform the development of national mental health and/or substance use standards. All funding opportunities from this initiative aim to embed evidence into pan-Canadian policy and decision-making regarding standards.
Catalyst Grant: Quadruple Aim and Equity - National Mental Health Service Standards
In September 2021, CIHR-INMHA launched a funding pool as part of the Catalyst Grant: Quadruple Aim and Equity funding opportunity led by the Institute of Health Services and Policy Research. Through the first funding opportunity as part of this initiative, CIHR provided an investment of $600k to fund 6 one-year research projects to synthesize evidence, compare and evaluate existing standards regarding virtual delivery of mental health and/or substance use services in various contexts.
Directed Grant: National Standards for Integrated Youth Services
This funding opportunity represents the preliminary phase of the Integrated Youth Services Network of Networks Initiative (IYS-Net). It supports research that will generate evidence and knowledge to inform the development of pan-Canadian standards for mental health and substance use services in IYS.
This work will facilitate and promote:
- standards or best practices aligned within and across IYS networks
- effective and meaningful youth engagement in research
- knowledge mobilization and evidence uptake into policy and decision-making about standards development
- collaborative work with existing and emerging IYS networks in provinces, territories, and indigenous communities
- capacity to conduct implementation research and develop best practices or standards
By focusing on research to develop pan-Canadian standards, IYS-Net will establish itself as a learning health system network and produce real-time evidence to inform policy and integrate research evidence into health decisions across Canada.
For more details on this funding opportunity, please visit ResearchNet.
For any inquiries related to this Initiative, please contact the CIHR Contact Centre at support-soutien@cihr-irsc.gc.ca.
Catalyst Grant: Towards Pan-Canadian Standards for Children and Youth Mental Health Services
In June 2022, CIHR launched the Catalyst Grant: Towards Pan-Canadian Standards for Children and Youth Mental Health Services Funding Opportunity. The focus of this funding opportunity is to support research to inform standards specific to mental health and/or substance use health services for children, youth, and young adults (ages 0 to 25), including the perinatal period.
This funding opportunity is led by CIHR's Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction, in partnership with Health Canada.
News
Contact information
Telephone: 613-954-1968
Toll Free: 1-888-603-4178
Fax: 613-954-1800
support-soutien@cihr-irsc.gc.ca
- Date modified: