Wait Times for Community Mental Health Counselling
A low number is desirable for this indicator
The number of days that half of the clients waited for their first scheduled appointment for community mental health counselling services and half were still waiting
Start time: The date the initial referral is received for ongoing counselling, regardless of the referral source (e.g., self-referral, doctor’s office, walk-in clinic, emergency department, crisis services)
Note: For clients who are in hospital when the referral is received, the start time will be the date they are discharged from hospital.
Stop time: The date of the first scheduled appointment for ongoing counselling offered and accepted by the client, regardless of whether they attended the appointment
Unit of analysis: Referral for scheduled, ongoing counselling services
Calculation of all-Canada estimates: The pan-Canadian value is calculated using a weighted average of the median wait times submitted by jurisdictions. Weights are calculated using the volumes of referrals submitted by jurisdictions. Jurisdictions that meet the data standards for this indicator are included.
Not applicable
The median number of calendar days that clients waited for their first scheduled appointment for ongoing community mental health counselling services
Methodology
Name
Wait Times for Community Mental Health Counselling
Short/Other Names
Community Mental Health Counselling Wait Times
Description
The median number of calendar days that clients waited for ongoing community mental health counselling services, from the date that the initial referral was received to the date of the first scheduled counselling session.
The first scheduled counselling session refers to the first appointment offered and accepted by the client, regardless of whether they attended the appointment.
This indicator includes only publicly funded services that are scheduled/booked in advance. For the purpose of this indicator, publicly funded means services that are provided, coordinated or overseen by the government. This may include referrals where a copayment is required.
For the purpose of this indicator, counselling is defined as therapy grounded in a psychological theory or evidence-based practice that uses a set of recognized communication skills, and which is planned to be provided over 1 or more scheduled sessions by trained mental health professionals to promote positive growth, well-being and mental health. Counselling may be individual-, group- or family-based.
Examples of types of counselling included are dialectical behavioural therapy (DBT), cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), brief low-intensity counselling, interpersonal therapy, solution-focused therapy, narrative therapy, psychoeducational counselling, psychodynamic therapy and mindfulness-based interventions.
Examples of types of counselling not included are crisis, assertive community treatment (ACT) and flexible assertive community treatment (FACT), drop-in/walk-in, self-help, coach-guided programs, peer-led, clubhouses, residential care, intensive outpatient treatment (e.g., day/evening treatment, day hospital, intensive day treatment programs), educational counselling, information sharing, forensic services, single-session counselling programs, stand-alone substance use services (e.g., withdrawal management service), specialized consultations and general support/supportive listening.
Rationale
Indicators of wait times are of high interest to both the Canadian public and system managers, as they reflect important aspects of experiences of care and of the responsiveness of the health system. Measuring wait times provides an indication of whether Canadians are getting timely access to mental health counselling services in the community.
Many factors affect wait times, such as availability of mental health counselling services and mental health professionals, the number of people requiring counselling services, urgency of the client’s condition and client choice.
This indicator can be used to understand access to mental health care in the community and to know how jurisdictions are performing in terms of providing timely access to mental health counselling services.
Interpretation
A low number is desirable for this indicator
HSP Framework Dimension
Health system outputs: Access to comprehensive, high-quality health services
Areas of Need
Getting Better
Targets/Benchmarks
Not applicable
Available Data Years
to (fiscal years)
Geographic Coverage
- Newfoundland and Labrador
- New Brunswick
- Nova Scotia
- Ontario
- Manitoba
- Saskatchewan
- Alberta
- British Columbia
- Yukon
- Northwest Territories
Reporting Level/Disaggregation
- National
- Province/Territory
- Age group
- Gender
- Urban/rural
Indicator Results
Update Frequency
Every year
Latest Results Update Date
Updates
December 2024
Description
The number of days that half of the clients waited for their first scheduled appointment for community mental health counselling services and half were still waiting
Start time: The date the initial referral is received for ongoing counselling, regardless of the referral source (e.g., self-referral, doctor’s office, walk-in clinic, emergency department, crisis services)
Note: For clients who are in hospital when the referral is received, the start time will be the date they are discharged from hospital.
Stop time: The date of the first scheduled appointment for ongoing counselling offered and accepted by the client, regardless of whether they attended the appointment
Unit of analysis: Referral for scheduled, ongoing counselling services
Calculation of all-Canada estimates: The pan-Canadian value is calculated using a weighted average of the median wait times submitted by jurisdictions. Weights are calculated using the volumes of referrals submitted by jurisdictions. Jurisdictions that meet the data standards for this indicator are included.
Type of Measurement
Number - Median (50th percentile) length of time, in days
Denominator
Description:
Not applicable
Inclusions:
Not applicable
Exclusions:
Not applicable
Numerator
Description:
The median number of calendar days that clients waited for their first scheduled appointment for ongoing community mental health counselling services
Inclusions:
- All ages and genders
- Note: Information on gender is collected using the categories male, female and another gender.
- All priority/urgency levels, except crisis services
- Only new referrals (i.e., referrals for new clients or clients who are being referred for a new episode of care)
- All referrals regardless of source (walk-in, family physician, emergency department, crisis services, self-referral)
- Scheduled, ongoing individual, group and family counselling
- Counselling delivered in real time by any mode (i.e., in person, phone, videoconference, online)
- Client unavailable days (i.e., days when the client was not available to attend the appointment are included)
- System delays (i.e., days when the health care provider was not available to offer the service are included)
- Only referrals where the stop time (i.e., first scheduled appointment) occurred within the reporting fiscal year (between April 1 and March 31 of the subsequent year)
Exclusions:
Referrals for services that do not meet the indicator definition
Method of Adjustment
Not applicable
Adjustment Applied
None
Covariates used in risk adjustment:
Not applicable
Geographic Assignment
Place of service
Data Sources
Provincial and territorial data collection systems
Coverage is considered full if referrals reported constitute 95% or more of those in the jurisdiction, partial if between 50% and 95%, and incomplete if below 50%. Results are not reported at the provincial/territorial level when coverage is incomplete.
- Newfoundland and Labrador (full)
- Nova Scotia (full)
- New Brunswick (full)
- Ontario (incomplete)
- Manitoba (partial)
- Saskatchewan (partial)
- Alberta (incomplete)
- British Columbia (partial, not reported)
- Yukon (partial)
- Northwest Territories (full)
Provincial/territorial coverage varies by fiscal year. Provinces/territories with partial/incomplete data are included in the Canada totals.
British Columbia’s results are not shown due to data quality issues, but they are included in the calculation of the Canada value.
Caveats and Limitations
- Caution should be used when interpreting this data because this indicator does not include all mental health counselling services available in the community across Canada. This measure uses data collected from independent provincial and territorial systems, which have known variations in definitions and gaps in data coverage. There is a commitment among jurisdictions to work toward harmonizing definitions and improving comparability of results.
- Data coverage varies across Canada, with 2 main sources of missing data:
- Missing data by geography (e.g., data from health regions)
- Missing data by services (e.g., data from publicly funded services that are contracted out to third-party organizations)
- Some jurisdictions are not yet able to capture the exact start and stop times for the indicator.
- Differences in the organization, funding and availability of services; in eligibility for receiving publicly funded services; and in availability of care providers influence wait times across provinces and territories..
- There is no standard urgency classification or common benchmark wait time across the country, and clients of all urgency levels, except those receiving crisis services, have been included. Differences in the mix of acuity levels across jurisdictions may result in differences in wait times.
Trending Issues
Not applicable
References
Not applicable
How to cite:
Canadian Institute for Health Information. Wait Times for Community Mental Health Counselling. Accessed April 25, 2025.
If you would like CIHI information in a different format, visit our Accessibility page.
Comments
This indicator is part of a set of common indicators to measure progress on the priority areas to improve health care announced by federal, provincial and territorial governments in 2023. Additional information is available on the Shared Health Priorities web page.