This report was published by the Community Health and Social Services Network.

HERE’S HOW THE AUTHORS DESCRIBE THIS REPORT:

This report outlines the most important findings of the Youth Pulse Check, a mental health survey filled out by 456 English-speaking youth between the ages of 18-29 from 14 regions across the province of Quebec. Although 90% of respondents said they struggled at least somewhat often with their mental wellbeing and 81% of respondents said that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased their struggles to feel well at a level 3 or more on a scale of 1 to 5, the survey revealed that many English-speaking youth feel there are significant gaps and barriers in accessing mental health services in their region. If many youth reported having sought out help in the past without success—meeting with barriers such as long wait lists, the prohibitive costs of mental health support, or the unavailability of services in English—other youth reported not having sought out help because of a lack of information about services to which they might turn.

Together, the findings suggest that high numbers of Quebec’s English-speaking youth are experiencing mental health struggles and that these struggles are exacerbated by the feelings of disempowerment, frustration, and isolation that come from not being able to, or not knowing how to, access professional mental health support. Commenting on the unavailability of mental health support in English for people with disabilities in her region, one respondent poignantly shared, “Most days I’m drowning in agony and there’s nothing I can do about it.”