Many Canadians are experiencing difficulties with mental health due to rising costs of living and unemployment, especially young adults. Housing and rental costs have put pressure on people to earn more income to survive. This impacts stress and mental health, highlighting problems within the health care system, including long waitlists to access public mental health services, and unaffordable costs for out-of-pocket private counselling and therapy.
When given the choice about whether to spend $150 per session on average for counselling therapy, versus prioritizing things like covering a mortgage, rent, or groceries for food, most people will choose to save money to pay for their housing and food costs. This makes sense given the hierarchy of needs, where food, water, and shelter are essential. When grocery prices and cost of living increases and basic needs are difficult to meet, it can register as a threat to peoples’ safety and survival.
For mental health professionals working in both public and private health care settings, it is common to hear from young adults who express their lives are lacking a sense of meaning or purpose. It is also common to hear about their financial stresses, food and housing insecurity, unemployment, loneliness, and the pressure they feel to achieve more. These things can lead to mental health issues like anxiety, depression, and substance use. Many young adults’ express frustration with not be able to get timely access to the support they need to cope with these mental health issues.
According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, 29 percent of Canadians 18 and older report they have experienced depression, anxiety, or other mental health conditions in 2023. This data trend is up from 20 percent in 2016.
According to Statistics Canada, the average income for Canadians, ages 25-54, is $68,000 per year before tax and deductions. This is $5,666 per month or $35 per hour during 40-hour work weeks.
According to the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, data from October 2023 shows that Metro Vancouver, BC led Canada for the highest average two-bedroom rental price ($2,181) and also had the lowest vacancy rate among the country’s major cities (0.9 percent). Coming in just under Vancouver’s average rental prices, are Toronto ($1,961), Victoria ($1,839), and Kelowna ($1,805). This combined with strong population growth in 2023, has kept things really tight for renters.
This means people are struggling to make ends meet and having to change their expectations about the life they hoped to have. If people are repeatedly not able to reach their goals, despite working hard to achieve them, this can leave them feeling disappointed, stuck, and anxious about what the future holds.
Many Canadians are struggling to find jobs and return to work. A Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey shows the unemployment rate has risen to 6.6 percent in August 2024, which is the highest since 2017, not including changes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Young adults are vulnerable to this level of unemployment, which is occurring in the early stages of their career development. The increased stress of job uncertainty combined with less resources and higher costs, tends to result in more mental health issues.
Barriers for people accessing mental health services for timely counselling and therapy are a serious problem in the Canadian health care system. High demand paired with funding and staffing shortages have led to long wait times. Provincial medical service plans, such as MSP in British Columbia, do not currently cover mental health services. For those with private extended health insurance benefits that cover counselling, they may be fortunate to have policies which cover 80% of costs for up to $500 or $1,000 per year. This may allow for them to participate in up to 3 to 6 sessions per year, while having to still pay for 20% of the costs. Most mental health professionals will require 2-3 sessions to accurately assess and plan with the client how to address their most important needs and goals, along with the appropriate treatment or intervention approach.
Early interventions are supported by research evidence as resulting in better outcomes overall for most people. Unfortunately, with these barriers, many young adults are delaying seeking out and receiving treatment until they are in crisis and overwhelmed in their ability to cope. It is a difficult period of time for people, especially those ages 19-30 to navigate the combination of challenges faced with education, employment, housing, and cost of living. Early adulthood is an important stage in a person’s lifespan and in their development. The events that occur during this time have the power to influence a person’s trajectory for the following years or even decades. The long-term consequences of this on a person’s functioning and quality of life can be detrimental. Unfortunately, most mental health professionals are not equipped to address this spectrum of interconnected problems.
However, a different and lesser-known discipline, found in vocational rehabilitation (VR) professionals, are equipped to address mental health problems associated with education and employment (including personal, career, and independent living goals). The evidence-based practices they offer within Supported Employment and Supported Education approaches (such as with Individual Placement and Support or IPS) are shown in the research literature to be some of the most effective for young adults experiencing moderate to severe mental health issues and barriers to work. This profession, while relatively unknown to the general public, is known for contributing to improved outcomes in peoples’ financial security, independence, mental health and wellness, sense of meaning and purpose, and overall quality of life.
These VR professionals, while few and far between, can be found working within the federal government (Canadian Pension Plan Disability, Employment and Social Development, Veterans Affairs Canada), provincial government and crown corporations (BC Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills Training, BC Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, ICBC and other motor vehicle accident insurance providers, WorkSafeBC and other worker’s compensation boards ), public health care authorities, and private insurance providers.
According to the Vocational Rehabilitation Association of Canada, these multi-disciplinary vocational rehabilitation professionals “are committed to supporting, assisting, and advocating for individuals experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, disabling conditions along the continuum of achieving or restoring optimum vocational and life goals. These outcomes are achieved through purposeful and intentional development of strategies and interventions that are informed and directed by education, research, experience and skills, as well as ongoing professional development, unique to the discipline and profession of vocational rehabilitation.”
For more information about Vocational Rehabilitation in Canada, please visit the College of Vocational Rehabilitation Professionals website, or the CVRP Public Registry to locate a registered VR professional.
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