Children’s Mental Health Week (CMHW) 2025 takes place from May 5 to 11, with National Child and Youth Mental Health Day on May 7. This year, Children’s Mental Health Ontario (CMHO) is centering the theme: “Voices Unheard, Stories Told: Centering the Diversity of Ontario’s Infants, Children & Youth.”
This theme recognizes that many children, youth, and families—particularly those who are Black, Indigenous, racialized, 2SLGBTQIA+, newcomer, Francophone, Northern, and low-income—continue to face disproportionate barriers when accessing mental health care. Their stories often go unheard, even as they navigate long wait times, service gaps, and systems not designed with their identities and experiences in mind.
CMHW 2025 is an opportunity to amplify those stories, highlight the urgent need for culturally safe and community-based mental health services, and call for action that addresses systemic inequities.
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 gap in accessing care (Children’s Mental Health Ontario, n.d.).
- 34.6% 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).
Together, we can raise awareness and push for a mental health system that reflects the voices and realities of all children, youth, and families in Ontario.
“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.”
New for #CMHW2025! Explore the Voices Unheard Digital Showcase ✨
A virtual gallery of powerful stories, artwork, and expressions from children, youth, and families across Ontario highlighting the mental health experiences of equity-deserving communities.
This space centres the voices of those too often left out of the conversation—Black, Indigenous, racialized, 2SLGBTQIA+, newcomer, refugee, Northern, and Francophone youth and families. Take a moment to witness these stories and honour their truths.
Introducing CMHO’s Provincial Health Equity Strategy
As part of this year’s Children’s Mental Health Week, CMHO is proud to launch its first-ever Provincial Health Equity Strategy, “Growing Together: Advancing Health Equity in Ontario’s Community Child and Youth Mental Health System”—a foundational framework developed through engagement with members, youth, families, and partners across the community-based child and youth mental health sector.
Rooted in anti-racism, anti-oppression, and equity principles, this strategy outlines a shared path forward for building a more just and inclusive system—one that better reflects and serves the diversity of Ontario’s infants, children, and youth. The strategy also advances key commitments from CMHO’s new Strategic Plan and affirms that our sector is both ready and able to lead quality improvement in equity.
Why now? This strategy arrives at a critical moment. Too often, there are disproportionate barriers to accessing mental health care for Black, Indigenous, racialized, 2SLGBTQIA+, Francophone, Northern, and low-income children and youth. We cannot achieve system transformation without embedding equity at the core of everything we do.
#CMHW2025 #MentalHealthWeek #KidsCantWait
Show Your Support
Use your voice to show your support for Children’s Mental Health Week by sharing these posts on social media along with the reasons child and youth mental health is important to you!
Don’t forget to tag CMHO in your posts and use the hashtags #CMHW2025, #MentalHealthWeek, and #KidsCantWait.
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Find help in your community.
Through our network of child and youth mental health centres, Children’s Mental Health Ontario has 4,000 child and youth mental healthcare workers across Ontario ready to help parents and their children.
- No problem is too big or too small.
- Our centres offer virtual, phone, and in-person appointments and walk-in clinics.
- Sessions are available for parents/caregivers too.
- You don’t need a referral or OHIP card.
