Although the City of Toronto 2024 budget takes bold steps toward supporting residents and advancing equity in key areas, there is much more work that needs to be done to build a city that is resilient, mentally healthy and equitable for all.
Mental Health
Getting to the root of the mental health crisis
Bell Let’s Talk’s 2024 campaign, “Let’s create real change” opens a crucial conversation about taking lasting action to address the mental health crisis. Worrisome mental health trends are being observed globally and in Toronto. According to Toronto Public Health, the number of Toronto residents reporting very good or excellent mental health has fallen from 71 […]
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Mental health-related calls in Toronto during the COVID-19 pandemic
The onset of COVID-19 and the introduction of lockdown practices to prevent its spread have raised considerable concerns about their impact on mental health, and the potential for an ‘echo pandemic’ of mental health problems. For this reason, the City of Toronto announced a mental health support strategy in April of 2020, urging residents to […]
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Building on Collaboration: Learnings from Toronto’s Supportive Housing System
Mental health supportive housing relies on municipal-health sector collaboration. It straddles the Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) mandate of coordinating integrated local health systems and the municipal responsibility for local housing and homelessness initiatives. In recent years, municipalities and LHINs have initiated collaborative work to address the overlap of their roles in supportive housing. However, […]
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Needs assessment: Justice-focused mental health supportive housing
Many people living with mental health and addictions issues are caught in a cycle of homelessness, police encounters, court hearings, hospital stays, and incarceration. This cycle results in significant public costs for jails, policing, hospital use, shelters, and other services. A new approach to supportive housing will reduce many of these costs, and will also […]
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Stress Report: A snapshot of socioeconomic status, housing quality and crime across Toronto neighbourhoods
This report illustrates that Torontonians experience a different city depending on where they live, work and play. While the risk factors and indicators identified in this report each have an independent impact on mental health, they often overlap geographically. Some neighbourhoods in Toronto are facing multiple stressors at once, suggesting that they may face increased […]
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