Federal government allocates $500 million for youth mental health

On April 9, the federal government dedicated $500 million over four years to creating a Youth Mental Health Fund. Hundreds of thousands of students will benefit from the fund, according to a statement from the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA).

Chris Beasley, the 2023-24 vice-president (external) for the University of Alberta Students’ Union (UASU), said that this funding is good news for U of A students. During his time as vice-president (external), Beasley advocated for mental health funding for U of A students. 

Financial barriers and long wait times for mental health supports are the two main issues post-secondary students face when accessing mental health services, Beasley said. Both of these obstacles were “flagged as areas that the federal government wanted to address with this funding,” according to Beasley. 

“As this is rolled out … we should see shorter wait times and more accessible services,” Beasley said. 

Increased mental health funding is needed for U of A students, Beasley says 

Beasley noted that mental health services have been identified as a large concern for U of A students.

“We have a mismatch between the need for services that students have shown and the services that are available,” Beasley said. “That means that many of us need to go outside of the U of A community in order to access services.”

Beasley said that because youth mental health issues are quite common, “the ability to get better mental health care quicker and cheaper is going to be very important.” 

On February 7, CASA released a report about the Canadian post-secondary student experience. According to the report, one in three students surveyed described their mental health as either “bad” or “very bad.” Beasley said the $500 million dollar investment is “something that can move the needle nationwide.”

The funding was originally dedicated to post-secondary students, but was redirected to youth across the country, according to Beasley. 

“I would have liked to have seen that promise met word-for-word by this government. But I’m also quite cognizant that we have $500 million more that we didn’t [before],” Beasley said. He added that the funding is a response to lobbying done by CASA.

“To see [that reflected], even if it’s not the ideal outcome, is a very good sign. It’s going to be responsive to and massively beneficial for students in this province and across the country.”  

“While this is a huge step in the right direction, it won’t do away with the causes of the mental health crisis,” Beasley says

Although Beasley thinks that this funding will be effective, he said more is needed to properly address the issue.

“There’s a real opportunity for other orders of government to step up and match this influx of funding and the level of alarm that the federal government is showing,” Beasley said. 

According to Beasley, mental health issues are often caused by affordability or academic stress within students’ lives. Although this funding will increase mental health resources, it will not make life affordable for all students, he added.

“While this is a huge step in the right direction, it won’t do away with the causes of the mental health crisis,” Beasley said. “I think the challenges that students [are] dealing with are so profound. There’s still a lot of work that needs to be done.”