The COVID-19 pandemic has had significant adverse impacts on the health and well-being of Canadians, leading to increased reports of stress, anxiety, depression, and substance use since the beginning of the pandemic. This difficult time has highlighted the need to address long-standing gaps in the delivery of mental health and substance use health services across the country. In March of 2022, the Government of Canada (link is external) announced that it will be working closely with SCC, as well as interested parties and partners, to develop national standards to help address the needs of Canadians related to mental health and substance use health services. The standards roadmap that is under development, and future standards to be developed, will provide an evidence-based framework and person-centered approach for service delivery that Canadians can rely on, no matter where they live or where they access services.The MHSUH Collaborative will identify the issues and evaluate the needs and opportunities in the development of a national mental health and substance use health standardization roadmap. Future work will build off the standardization roadmap to continue improving mental health and substance use health service delivery and treatment outcomes through standardization.
