Nova Scotia Expands Mental Health Services as Residents Report Record-High Struggles
With nearly one in five Nova Scotians now reporting fair or poor mental health, the provincial government is investing close to $20 million to expand access to care, though non-urgent wait times remain highly uneven across the province.
Brian Comer, Nova Scotia’s Minister of Addictions and Mental Health, has identified access to care as the primary priority for addressing the province's growing mental health challenges. According to Statistics Canada data, Nova Scotians currently report the highest rates of perceived mental health struggles of any province in Canada.
The most recent community health survey results show that 19.9 per cent of Nova Scotians perceive their mental health to be fair or poor. This represents a significant increase from 2015, when only 8.1 per cent of residents reported the same.
To address these rising needs, the provincial government allocated close to $20 million in its most recent budget specifically for improvements to mental health and recovery services. The expansion includes recovery support centres and integrated service sites that offer walk-in services with no wait times and little to no need for a referral. Additionally, the government launched an Insured Service Program, which has facilitated close to 6,000 appointments so far.
Nova Scotia Health has also expanded its digital resources. Its online hub now contains a directory of 96 different mental health and addiction programs and services, providing information for 98 locations around the province where patients can get help.
While urgent psychiatric care wait times have remained within national benchmarks of less than seven days, access to non-urgent outpatient care varies significantly by region. Wait times for non-urgent mental health appointments range from 13 days in rural Cape Breton to 77 days in the Annapolis Valley. In urban areas, the delays are much longer, with wait times at three major sites in the Halifax Regional Municipality exceeding 140 days.