<p>The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health is calling it a <a href="https://www.camh.ca/en/driving-change/the-crisis-is-real"><u>crisis</u></a> in our country.</p>
<p>After years of campaigns dispelling the stigma around mental health, we are now facing a shortage of mental health care support, with some wait lists a year-long leaving many Canadians with nowhere to turn for help.</p>
<p>Fewer than 1 in 3 Canadians with mental illness can access care.</p>
<p>The pandemic has put pressure on a system that was already fragile.</p>
<p>In a poll conducted by<a href="https://angusreid.org/covid-19-two-year-anniversary/"> <u>Angus Reid</u></a> in partnership with the CBC, 54 percent of Canadians felt their mental health had worsened during the past two years.</p>
<p>The Canadian Mental Health Association<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/canada-mental-health-crisis-covid-19-pandemic-1.6382378"> </a>found that the pandemic made the patchwork system of care more visible.</p>
<p>And while the gov't has committed $50 million to support mental health distress centers, an open letter written by 65 national health associations to Federal Mental Health and Addictions Minister Carolyn Bennett is calling on Ottawa to respond to the crisis with an election promise of $4.5 billion towards mental health services.</p>
<p>Today on <em>Context</em> Mental Health, A Nation in Crisis.</p>
