Mental Illness Awareness Week 2025: Mental health care is a right, not a privilege 

This Mental Illness Awareness Week, Canadians are shining a light on a system that too often leaves people waiting, struggling or shut out altogether. 

Mental Illness Awareness Week is an annual national public education campaign coordinated by the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health (CAMIMH). This year’s theme, Mental health and substance use health: a right, not a privilege, calls on all leaders and communities to ensure equitable access to care and support for everyone.  

As a member of CAMIMH, CMHA supports the vision of a Canada where everyone has timely access to mental health programs, services and supports without barriers. A recent analysis from CMHA National found that nine in 10 Canadians say timely access to mental health care is important. Eighty-three per cent believe we need more professionals to meet the demand. And for young people, cost remains the biggest roadblock, with almost six in 10 Canadians aged 18 to 24 reporting they cannot afford the care they need. 

These statistics tell a story that many already know firsthand. People wait on lists that stretch for months, or they face bills they simply cannot cover. In some communities, the services simply do not exist. 

Housing tells its own story. People with poor mental health are 50 per cent more likely to live in inadequate housing (housing that fails to meet their needs) than those reporting good mental health. When housing is unstable, mental health is at risk. When mental health declines, so do the chances of finding and keeping housing, highlighting the need to address social determinants of health to benefit mental health. 

A human rights perspective 

The idea of mental health as a human right is not new. It is already recognized under international human rights law, which affirms every person’s right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. That right goes beyond the absence of illness. It includes the ability to live with dignity and to enjoy well-being in every sense. 

Canada has signed on to these commitments yet is not meeting them as gaps remain deep and persistent. People in rural and remote regions often have no services to turn to. Many cannot find culturally safe care. Others are forced to pay out of pocket for therapy and counselling because most services are excluded from the Canada Health Act. 

Because the Act does not classify these services as medically necessary, provinces and territories do not receive federal transfers to cover them. Meaning millions either pay privately or go without, with some folks waiting until they are in crisis before reaching out. These realities contradict the promises Canada has made on the world stage and clash with protections in Canadian law. 

Our vision 

CMHA continues to advocate for a society that embraces and invests in the mental health of all people.  This means that every person has access to care, the social foundations that support good mental health, protection from stigma and discrimination and freedom from mistreatment.  

Access to mental health care means a system that is properly funded and delivers services that are culturally safe, equitable and based on people’s needs. At its core, it is about treating mental health with the same priority as physical health. 

Our Branch’s Commitment to Accessible Care

• We work to reduce wait times by offering same-day or next-day intake calls, walk-in options, and timely follow-ups.
• We use a stepped-care approach, ensuring individuals receive the right level of support at the right time—whether that’s brief counselling, group programs, or more intensive services.
• We partner with local hospitals, clinics, and community providers to create smoother pathways to care, so clients don’t have to navigate the system alone.

Together, these efforts ensure people can access the help they need more quickly, and in ways that best fit their needs.

Access to the prerequisites of good mental health means stable housing, income security, education, access to land and nature and other social determinants being recognized and funded as essential. CMHA has long rooted its understanding of mental health in these social determinants and is strengthening partnerships to advance equity. 

Our Branch’s Work Beyond Mental Health Care
At CMHA Muskoka-Parry Sound, we know mental health is deeply connected to the social determinants of health. That’s why we also:

• Support Housing Stability – Helping individuals and families find and maintain safe, affordable housing.
• Promote Food Security – Partnering with local programs to ensure people have access to healthy, nutritious food.
• Provide Employment Supports – Assisting individuals in building skills, finding work, and maintaining meaningful employment.
• Advocate for Equity – Working with community partners to reduce barriers and promote fairness in health, housing, and social services.

These initiatives strengthen well-being, create stability, and help people thrive in our community. determi

Protection from discrimination and stigma means that people living with mental illness and substance use problems are fully included in society. It means addressing the legacies of colonialism, racism and systemic inequities in mental health systems (something we just spoke about on this year’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation – you can read more here). It also means valuing peer support as a sustainable and well-funded complement to medical care. 

Freedom from violence, mistreatment and abuse means centering dignity and self-determination in all programs and policies and exploring alternatives to seclusion, restraint and involuntary treatment. This could also be seen as scaling up diversion programs for people with drug offences and ensuring that the voices of people with lived experience shape standards of care. 

Lived Experience and Peer Support in Our Work
At CMHA Muskoka-Parry Sound, we believe the voices of people with lived and living experience are essential in shaping meaningful programs and services.

• Peer Support Integration – We include trained peer supporters in our services, offering clients understanding, encouragement, and hope from those who have walked similar paths.
• Co-Design with Service Users – Programs are created and improved with direct input from the people who use them, ensuring services meet real needs in our community.
• Lived Experience Leadership – Individuals with lived experience are involved in decision-making, planning, and advisory roles across the organization.
• (COI) Program – Our COI program creates a platform for people with lived experience to guide service development and organizational direction, ensuring their insights influence both daily practice and long-term strategy.

By embedding lived experience in everything we do, we create more responsive, inclusive, and effective pathways to care.

Here’s what you can do to help 

The call for change is big, but it starts close to home. Community-based mental health care is delivered every day by CMHA branches across Ontario, including ours. These services make sure people have somewhere to turn when they cannot wait weeks or months for support. 

You can help strengthen that work. Donations make it possible to offer programs that are free or low-cost, to reduce wait times and to reach people who fall through the cracks of the system. 

Support Mental Health in Muskoka-Parry Sound
Your generosity helps us provide vital programs and services that support mental health, housing, food security, peer support, and more in our community.

Every donation makes a difference.

Donate today: www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/18314

Together, we can build a healthier, more supportive community for everyone.

If donating is not possible, you can still make an impact. Share information, join local events or even volunteer at our branch! Every action helps build momentum for a system where mental health care is a right, not a privilege. Visit the CAMIMH website for more information on the MIAW campaign