This Children’s Mental Health Week (CMHW), Children’s Mental Health Ontario (CMHO) and its members are recognizing the urgent need for inclusive, community-based mental health services for Ontario’s young people.

Taking place from May 5 to 11, 2025 and anchored by National Child and Youth Mental Health Day on May 7, this year’s campaign is grounded in the theme: “Voices Unheard, Stories Told: Centering the Diversity of Ontario’s Infants, Children & Youth.”

This theme amplifies the lived experiences of young people and families from equity-deserving communities—including Black, Indigenous, racialized, 2SLGBTQIA+, Francophone, Northern, and newcomer populations—whose voices are too often excluded from mental health conversations and services.

Why This Matters: Equity Gaps in Mental Health Access

• Black, Indigenous and racialized youth face barriers such as racism, discrimination, cultural insensitivity, and stigma that prevent access to mental health services and create negative experiences, with 21% of youth in CMHO’s network reporting discrimination when accessing care (The New Mentality, 2022).
• Black children and youth wait longer and have difficulty accessing health services, in comparison to white children and youth (Office of the Auditor General of Ontario, 2025).
• 42% of parents surveyed by CMHO identified the location of programs (i.e., programs located outside of their community) as a significant barrier to accessing care (Children’s Mental Health Ontario, n.d.).
• 6% of families and 61.5% of youth indicated that, despite expressing a preference for French language services when seeking child and youth mental health care in Ontario, they were unable to access such services in their native language at some stage during their mental health journey. (Lemay, Kelly, Guérin Marion & Sundar, 2017).

“These inequities are not just data points—they reflect the lived realities of kids and families in our communities,” said Tatum Wilson, CEO, CMHO. “We need a mental health system that is responsive, representative, and rooted in equity.”

CMHO invites communities across Ontario to learn, share, and act. Whether it’s attending an event, sharing a story, or engaging online, everyone has a role to play in reshaping the future of child and youth mental health in Ontario.

• Explore stories and creative works from youth and families at the Voices Unheard Digital Showcase
• Join the conversation! For information and resources, visit https://cmho.org/childrens-mental-health-week/
• Follow and share using the hashtags #VoicesUnheardStoriesTold #CMHW2025 #MentalHealthWeek #KidsCantWait