Every year, millions of Canadians participate in mental health campaigns as a national effort to reduce the stigma around mental health. At a glance, this may seem like a positive step toward expanding mental health awareness. Despite what they profess to do, many corporate campaigns have faced ongoing controversy about the commodification of mental health. Performative campaigns can be misleading to Canadians, offering an empty gesture instead of addressing the year-round systemic challenges facing mental health care in this country.
Let’s look at the reality – mental health is a persistent, growing crisis in Canada, one that I have experienced firsthand. One in five Canadians experience a mental illness in any given year, and nearly 50 percent have experienced mental health struggles by the age of 40. Navigating life with undiagnosed conditions can lead to comorbidities like eating disorders or substance abuse as coping mechanisms which is why early diagnosis is so important.
Yet our healthcare system is failing to support those in need, and it can be incredibly difficult to receive a diagnosis. Canada ranks near the bottom globally when it comes to physicians per capita, and over 6.5 million Canadians struggle to access family doctors or any form of reliable care. When awareness campaigns focus only on generating attention without promoting actionable change, they risk sidelining the core issue: the need for accessible, year-round support.
Take Bell Let’s Talk Day, for example. It is often held up as the gold standard for mental health advocacy, but not without its controversies. The campaign encourages Canadians to post hashtags for donations, creating a feel-good buzz online. But behind-the-scenes stories of layoffs of employees struggling with mental illness to restrictive workplace policies have cast a shadow on the campaign’s credibility.
The problem is not only that these campaigns lack follow-through, but also that they oversimplify complex mental health challenges to a hashtag and singular effort. Canadians walk away thinking they have made a difference, while the real issues – like underfunding, lack of access, and an overextended healthcare system – are left unresolved. Imagine putting a band-aid on a broken leg and calling it progress. The act of tweeting or posting feels like action, but it often creates an illusion of impact while the deeper wounds remain untreated.
The truth is, mental health requires more than a few displays of online activism. It demands bold, structural changes – more funding for mental health services, addressing physician shortages, and finding sustainable ways to deliver care. It also invites innovative solutions, like harnessing technology, to address these gaps and help support Canadians. For example, to address the lengthy process of getting a diagnosis, we created a platform called HiBoop that combines existing assessment tools to provide individuals with a preliminary overview of their mental health in an effort to allow them to advocate for timely support and care. Using technology like machine learning algorithms can help alleviate the administrative challenges that clincians are facing and make care more accessible and actionable for those who need it most.
But this imperative is not just a corporate responsibility; it is one we all share. That could include offering mental health resources in workplaces, supporting policies that prioritize well-being, and funding tangible solutions like telehealth services and mental health platforms.
As Canadians, we can push for more. Advocate for increased investments in mental health, donate to local organizations doing meaningful work, and, most importantly, check in on the people in your life. These small but consistent actions can make a real impact. Mental health isn’t a one-day campaign or trending hashtag – it is a year-round issue that deserves year-round solutions. Only by going beyond performative gestures can we create a system where every Canadian has access to the care they need.
Jason Morehouse is the Founder and CEO of HiBoop.
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