• Topic
  • Published
  • Updated

Mental health and substance use

Mental health and substance use jtseng_master

Mental illness and substance use affect many Canadians at some point in their lifetime. In recognition of their impact on individuals, families, communities and care systems, we provide data and information to guide decisions on clinical care, system management and policy related to mental health and substance use.

Featured material

Measuring access to priority health services

  • Release summary
  • November 30, 2023
Explore the latest products related to new pan-Canadian indicators about access to home and community care and to mental health and substance use services.

Indicators

See all indicators

Releases and results

See all reports and releases

Mental health and substance use: Overview

Mental health and substance use: Overview jtseng_master

CIHI collaborates with federal, provincial/territorial (FPT), regional and other stakeholders to identify and address mental health and substance use information needs and priorities. We support the development, reporting and use of timely and comparable data related to this topic.

Making a difference in the mental health and substance use sector

To address the growing need for timely access to mental health and substance use services, we are working to develop and report on a set of pan-Canadian indicators that focus on measuring access to mental health and substance use services and to home and community care.

We also support the implementation and use of comprehensive and standardized clinical assessments in mental health and substance use care. The assessments are part of a suite of interRAI tools, including the Resident Assessment Instrument–Mental Health (RAI-MH) for inpatient mental health care and the interRAI Community Mental Health (interRAI CMH) for community-based care. Information that is captured during the assessment process contributes to clinical care planning and system-level decision-making.
 

Databases and data sources

CIHI manages 2 databases that are dedicated to inpatient mental health and substance use services: the Hospital Mental Health and Substance Use (HMHSU) Data Asset and the Ontario Mental Health Reporting System (OMHRS).

The HMHSU includes pan-Canadian demographic, administrative and diagnosis information. It integrates information from multiple CIHI data sources to focus on hospitalizations with a main diagnosis of mental illness or substance use.

OMHRS contains comprehensive information on individuals who receive inpatient mental health services in selected provinces. OMHRS data is derived from clinical assessments based on the RAI-MH.

Many of CIHI’s other data holdings contain data relevant to mental health and substance use, such as information about the health workforce, pharmaceuticals and spending.

Contact us

Mental health and substance use: Reports and releases

Mental health and substance use: Reports and releases jtseng_master

This page lists mental health and substance use reports, stories, infographics and release summaries.

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Mental health care

  • Report
  • Published
The 2023 Commonwealth Fund survey of the general population explores lifestyle and economic factors that affect the need for mental health care in 10 countries, including Canada.

Commonwealth Fund survey, 2023

  • Release summary
  • Published
The 2023 Commonwealth Fund survey looked at the views and health care experiences of the general population age 18+ in 10 high-income countries, including Canada.

Measuring access to priority health services

  • Release summary
  • Published
Explore the latest products related to new pan-Canadian indicators about access to home and community care and to mental health and substance use services.

Snapshot of Canada’s 4 health care priorities

  • Report
  • Published
​Learn how the Government of Canada and the provincial and territorial governments are working together to improve Canadian health care in 4 priority areas.

Hospital stays in Canada, 2021–2022

  • Release summary
  • Published
​Explore the most recent information on inpatient hospitalization, surgery and newborn statistics, including the top reasons for hospital stays and surgeries.

Mental health and substance use: Data tables

Mental health and substance use: Data tables jtseng_master

This page contains a list of data tables that provide data and information about mental health and substance use.

Showing 1 to 10 of 17 results

Mental health and substance use: Indicators

Mental health and substance use: Indicators jtseng_master

This page contains a list of CIHI’s mental health and substance use indicators.

Showing 1 to 10 of 14 results

Heavy Drinking

  • Indicator
  • Published
Heavy drinking is defined as men who reported consuming 5 or more drinks or women who reported consuming 4 or more drinks on 1 occasion at least once a month in the past year. It is calculated for the population age 12 and older.

Hospitalizations Entirely Caused by Alcohol

  • Indicator
  • Published
This indicator provides the age-standardized rate of hospitalizations with conditions that are wholly (100%) attributable to alcohol, per 100,000 population age 10 and older.

Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Discharges

  • Indicator
  • Published
​​Number, percentage, and crude and age-standardized rate of discharges for mental health and substance use disorder hospitalizations, by Canada and province/territory.

Repeat Hospital Stays for Mental Health and Substance Use

  • Indicator
  • Published
This indicator measures the risk-adjusted percentage of individuals who had 3 or more episodes of care for mental health and substance use (MHSU) disorders among all those who had at least one episode of care for MHSU disorders in general or psychiatric…

Self-Harm Hospitalizations

  • Indicator
  • Published
This indicator provides the rate of hospitalizations due to self-harm. Lower rates are desirable as they signal less frequent severe self-harm.

Mental health and substance use: Tools

Mental health and substance use: Tools jtseng_master

This page lists CIHI’s performance reporting tools that contain mental health and substance use data.

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CIHI Portal

  • Tool
  • Published
Get information about CIHI Portal, including pricing.

Data Preview for Indicators Tool

  • Tool
  • Published
The Data Preview for Indicators web tool is used by stakeholders to review or validate their indicator results before they are made publicly available.

Health Indicators e-Publication

  • Tool
  • Published
Explore this large inventory of health indicators for regions and provinces/territories, which measure the health of Canadians and the performance of health systems. Jointly produced by Statistics Canada and CIHI.

Patient Cost Estimator

  • Tool
  • Published
Estimate the average cost of various hospital services, costs incurred by hospitals and the average cost of the average typical inpatient in an acute care facility. 

Quick Stats

  • Tool
  • Published
Quick Stats are a series of free, publicly available reports that provide aggregate-level data about health care in Canada.

Your Health System: In Brief

  • Tool
  • Published
Your Health System: In Brief is an interactive health information tool that explores the five themes that Canadians told us were the most important.

Your Health System: In Depth

  • Tool
  • Published
Explore Canadian health care and compare interactive data by hospital, long-term care organization, region and more

Your Health System: Insight

  • Tool
  • Published
Your Health System: Insight is an analytical tool that allows health care providers and analysts to dig deeper into indicator results. Find out more about what Insight can offer, how to get access and the data refresh schedule.

Mental health and substance use: Data holdings

Mental health and substance use: Data holdings jtseng_master

CIHI manages 2 databases that are dedicated to inpatient mental health and substance use services: the Hospital Mental Health and Substance Use (HMHSU) Data Asset and the Ontario Mental Health Reporting System (OMHRS). This page lists other data holdings that contain data relevant to mental health and substance use, such as information about the health workforce, pharmaceuticals and spending.

Hospital mental health data update: Transitioning from HMHDB to HMHSU Data Asset

As part of CIHI’s data modernization strategy, we are transitioning to the newly developed Hospital Mental Health and Substance Use (HMHSU) Data Asset. CIHI’s hospital mental health data that was previously available through the Hospital Mental Health Database (HMHDB) is now available through the HMHSU Data Asset.

Please email specializedcare@cihi.ca with any questions about these changes.

Showing 1 to 9 of 9 results

Health Workforce Database metadata

  • Metadata
  • Published
The Health Workforce Database contains information on more than 30 groups of health care professionals in Canada.

Scott’s Medical Database metadata

  • Metadata
  • Published
Source, data coverage, data availability, data elements and data quality of Scott's Medical Database (SMDB).

Mental health and substance use: News and podcasts

Mental health and substance use: News and podcasts jtseng_master

Understand the key messages in CIHI’s recently published data releases by exploring our media releases, bulletins and podcast episodes featuring updates about mental health and substance use.

Showing 1 to 10 of 19 results

Palliative Care in Canada — Bernard Lapointe and Philippe Miquel

  • Podcast episode
  • Published
In this episode of the CHIP, host Alya Niang speaks with McGill University professor Bernard Lapointe and documentary filmmaker Philippe Miquel about the state of palliative care in Canada and why it is such a critical part of health care.

Virtual Care in Canada — Dr. Ewan Affleck

  • Podcast episode
  • Published
In this episode of the CHIP, host Avis Favaro speaks with Dr. Ewan Affleck about the future of virtual care in Canada and why he is so passionate about continuing its growth.

Virtual Care in Canada — Dr. Onil Bhattacharyya

  • Podcast episode
  • Published
In this episode of the CHIP, host Alya Niang speaks with Dr. Onil Bhattacharyya about the future of virtual care in Canada and why he is so passionate about continuing its growth.

Mental health and substance use: Education resources

Mental health and substance use: Education resources jtseng_master

Through our Learning Centre, CIHI provides opportunities for health professionals to understand our evolving reporting systems and the application of our standards, data and analytics. We offer many courses and resources for a variety of audiences, including clinicians, assessors, data submitters and analysts, decision-makers, policy planners and researchers.

Courses and resources are available in a variety of formats, including eLearning modules, PDF and page-based documents, live and recorded web conferences, and videos.

On this page:

 

Learning opportunities

Resources offered through the Learning Centre include the following: 

 

Access CIHI’s Learning Centre

Discover whether you can learn for free!

Simply log in with your CIHI profile and prices will adjust to reflect your entitlements.

Log in 

New user?

Create a CIHI profile so our system can recognize your organization’s entitlements. By doing so, you will get a Learning Centre account — no extra steps needed!

Create a profile 

Browse our catalogues

With 300 learning products in a variety of areas, we’re sure to have something that meets your needs — and our online courses will always fit your schedule.

Visit the Education page 

Other education resources

Resources offered through CIHI include the following:

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Canadian seniors and mental health

  • Video
  • Published
Tracy Johnson, CIHI's director of Health System Analysis and Emerging Issues, discusses the survey's key findings regarding the mental health of Canadian seniors in this video.