The way young Canadians are seeking help for mental health concerns is shifting — and it’s changing the data around hospitalizations. According to a new report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), hospital and emergency room visits for mental health issues among youth have dropped significantly since 2018, while community-based care and prescription use have risen.
The CIHI report, released today, analyzes mental health care patterns for Canadians aged 5 to 24 and compares trends from 2023 to 2018. It found that emergency department visits for mental health declined by 31 per cent, while hospitalizations dropped by 23 per cent during the same period.
Liudmila Husak, CIHI’s manager of health system analytics, said the numbers were unexpected. “Prior to 2018/19, we saw continuous increases in hospitalizations and ER visits. This is the first time we’ve observed a different pattern,” she said.
Instead of ending up in crisis care, more young people are now seeing family doctors, pediatricians, or psychiatrists — up eight per cent compared to five years ago. This may be linked to a broader shift in how family doctors are managing more complex mental health conditions outside of hospital settings. Meanwhile, medication use has also risen. Prescriptions for mood and anxiety disorders are up 18 per cent, and antipsychotic prescriptions have increased by 13 per cent.
Still, CIHI is clear: the decline in hospital visits does not signal an improvement in youth mental health. The report explicitly notes that the overall mental well-being of young Canadians has not recovered since the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, Statistics Canada data shows that one in five youth who rated their mental health as good or better in 2019 no longer felt that way in 2023. Teenage girls — particularly those aged 15 to 17 — are the most affected.
“Through our expert consultations, we know the severity and complexity of cases aren’t decreasing,” Husak emphasized. “These young people are still very sick — whether they show up at emergency departments or community clinics. The difference is, we’re catching and treating more of them earlier.”
The report suggests that while improvements in care delivery are real, there are still major gaps. Husak noted that recent investments in mental health services are helping, but more targeted funding is urgently needed to meet the growing demand.