The need for mental health services and resources across Canada is growing. The economic costs required to meet this need are substantial, particularly in rural, remote, and northern communities. E-Mental health could help to fill this gap, giving significantly more Canadians access to the care they deserve and doing so in a cost-effective manner.
E-Mental health would not replace traditional care. Instead, it would support and enhance care as it is currently provided, and help to reduce the time needed to receive it. To ensure e-Mental health realizes its full potential in Canada, it is important understand how to support its further development and implementation, and to better position e-Mental health technologies and services within the mental health care system.
E-Mental health is the use of information and communication technologies to support and improve mental health. It is now common in Canada to use technology to control, detect, screen, or treat physical ailments and chronic conditions. The same could one day be true for mental health problems and illness.
Published By: Mental Health Commission of Canada
Publication Date: June, 2014
