Mental health is declining during the COVID-19 outbreak; service providers are nearing a breaking point

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the mental well-being of Canadians to deteriorate. Youths are reporting more physical abuse and agencies are concerned they may not have the resources to handle the surging need.

Heightened concern about the well-being of youth, especially, comes on the heels of service providers such as Kids Help Phone seeing an 112-per-cent increase in demand for services, over the same time last year, says Alisa Simon, senior vice-president, innovation and chief youth officer.

"We're also seeing a very large increase in young people talking about physical abuse (at home)," she said of a 24-per-cent spike in the last few weeks alone. "It's really troubling. When we're in lockdown, that becomes even more difficult."

Working adults are also reporting "unprecedented" impacts, according to data collected by Morneau Shepell,, which works with employers to provide mental health services. Overall, there has been a 16-per-cent decline in the reported mental health of Canadian workers, the company's mental health index released this month shows.

Kids Help Phone calls from young people sharing the negative impact COVID-19 is having on their daily routine have increased about 40 per cent week-over-week, Simon said.

"We are having way more conversations with young people, who are talking about anxiety, isolation, as well as substance abuse," she said. On the upside, "our conversations about suicide are down," compared to things such as isolation and physical abuse.

The surge is forcing Kids Help Phone to increase its staff significantly.

"We're tripling our coaching staff to train more people," she said. "We're in a position, over the next two months, to train more crisis responders than we've done in the last two years in total."

Children's Mental Health Ontario says about 15 per cent of the kids seeking short-term crisis support from Kids Help Phone will be referred for additional support through its member agencies.

"When parents struggle, then kids will struggle as well," said Kim Moran, CEO, Children's Mental Health Ontario, which provides mental health services to 130,000 children and youth across the province.

"I think we're going to see those kinds of heightened problems in the next two months."

Moran said mental health agencies are now scrambling to pivot to provide more care through virtual platforms and by phone, while the more serious cases, such as kids who are suicidal or aggressive, continue to get in-person care.

"We have to adapt some very intensive treatment services to our new reality," she said.

Prior to COVID-19, 28,000 children and youth were on a waiting list for mental health services, some which were turning to hospitals, which are now burdened by the COVID-19 response, said Moran.

A survey of community child and youth mental health centres across Ontario showed that thousands of children and youth (under 18) were waiting up to two years for treatment, while an estimated 200,000 kids with serious mental health issues have no contact with mental health services at all, according to CMHO.

Add in the strain caused by COVID-19 and you have a system that's not ready to handle a surge, she said.

"We have advocated to the government to help us get ready," said Moran, who added that there will be lots of needs, including a shortage of workers to deal with the added load.

Last month, the government announced $12 million in increased funding for mental health services, but Moran says "it's not enough," when advocates across the sector are calling for an additional $100 million to deal with COVID-19 emergency mental health response services alone.

"They need to get on this, because, otherwise, there will be staff shortages and unfortunately clients dying in residential treatment facilities," she said.

"As we come out of the pandemic, we want to make sure we have enough funding to meet the demand that's going to be there," she said. "That should be addressed now, to get ready."

In a statement released this month, Morneau Shepell said its mental health index score fell to 63 from the benchmark of 75. The size of the change is unprecedented in the three-year period during which the data has been collected.

"An overall score of 63 is very concerning," the firm notes. "Such a score is typically only seen in the subset of employees who have major life disruption and mental health risk."

The mental health woes faced by working Ontarians has been translating into a bump in demand for services offered by agencies in the Canadian Mental Health Association, Ontario says CMHA Ontario CEO Camille Quenneville.

"In our London (Ontario), branch, the crisis line has had a 50-per-cent increase in the last three weeks," Quenneville said. "They had to call in 40 medical students to assist."

There are also early signs that "substance abuse issues are spiking," in places such as Toronto.

"This has caught all of us off guard," she said.

Jason Miller is a breaking news reporter based in Toronto. Reach him on email: jasonmiller@thestar.ca or follow him on Twitter: @millermotionpic