Toronto, ON (Mar. 27, 2025) \u2013 As Canada-U.S. trade tensions escalate and the cost of living continues to rise, new data reveals nearly half of Canadians are experiencing heightened anxiety, with tariffs quickly emerging as one of the top drivers.<\/p>\n
Last month, GreenShield\u2014a proudly Canadian-owned and operated non-profit health and benefits company\u2014partnered with Mental Health Research Canada (MHRC) to identify key trends and gaps in care for Canadians amidst growing economic and political uncertainty. The data revealed a significant spike in anxiety over the past month, with the rising cost of living and political tensions with the U.S. reported among the top stressors for Canadians.<\/p>\n
According to this new data:<\/p>\n
Despite growing demand for mental health support, cost and accessibility continue to be major barriers to care \u2013 putting therapy further out of reach for those who need it most. As a purpose-driven non-profit and the country\u2019s fastest-growing mental health provider, GreenShield is committed to supporting the mental health of Canadians during challenging times. To help break down these barriers, the company will offer two months of free therapy to Canadians looking to start their mental health journey. The offer includes two sessions with a licensed therapist and an unlimited subscription to digital cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), with no membership or commitment required.<\/p>\n
\u201cTime and again, we\u2019ve seen the deep connection between economic uncertainty and declines in mental well-being. As a proudly Canadian and purpose driven company, we\u2019re committed to reducing barriers to care for all Canadians as we collectively navigate this challenging time,\u201d said Zahid Salman, President and CEO of GreenShield. \u201cThis is about Canadians helping Canadians. Mental health is not just an individual issue \u2013 it\u2019s a national one. Ensuring Canadians have access to support during tough times strengthens the entire country.\u201d<\/p>\n
GreenShield\u2019s initiative builds on past lessons from economic downturns, including the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, both of which saw surges in mental health challenges. These moments have reinforced a critical truth that during times of financial uncertainty, access to mental health support is more important than ever, yet too often remains out of reach for those who need it.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur data confirms that today\u2019s political and economic climate is fueling widespread stress and anxiety,\u201d said Akela Peoples, CEO of MHRC. \u201cFailing to address the mental health toll of this instability could have long-term consequences for all of us as a country. We\u2019re proud to be sharing insights that can help Canadians build better solutions and we applaud GreenShield\u2019s impressive leadership in offering free support to all Canadians.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a non-profit, GreenShield operates without short-term profit-driven shareholders, enabling the company to prioritize people and purpose over profits. GreenShield is committed to reinvesting its excess earnings to directly support the health and well-being of underserved communities. Through GreenShield Cares, the company has committed $75 million to improve the health of over one million Canadians by the end of this year, with a focus on mental health, essential medicines, and chronic disease management. By providing Canadians with a risk-free opportunity to try therapy \u2013 at no cost \u2013 with an inclusive network of therapists, GreenShield is helping to further reduce barriers to care for Canadians and advancing its mission of Better Health for All.<\/p>\n
Canadians can access GreenShield\u2019s free mental offer from March 28th until May 28th, 2025, by visiting www.greenshield.ca\/en-ca\/canadians-help-canadians<\/a>.<\/p>\n MHRC\u2019s national polling is part of a multi-year effort to track the mental health challenges of COVID-19 and beyond. Since March 2020, the goal of MHRC\u2019s polling has been to capture Canadians\u2019 reported perception of their level of anxiety and depression, and to identify and evaluate the factors that influence mental well-being. Methodology: The online survey was conducted among a sample of 4,050 adult Canadians from Feb 4-24, 2025. This was the twenty-third poll of this study. Results between the polls are compared where applicable. This report focuses solely on the overall measures of mental health as well as the impact of the current economic conditions. While total results include the additional 4000 BC sample, these national results have been weighted by the most current census data in terms of gender, age, & region to ensure the total sample is representative of the population as a whole. A national one-time survey deployed to understand Canadians\u2019 experience with anxiety as it relates to current economic and political stressors.<\/p>\n \u200dMethodology: The survey was conducted with 1,500 adults in Canada from February 20 \u2013 25, 2025. A random sample of panelists were invited to complete the survey from a set of partner panels based on the Lucid exchange platform. These partners are typically double opt -in survey panels, blended to manage out potential skews in the data from a single source. The margin of error for a comparable probability -based random sample of the same size is +\/ \u2013 2.53%, 19 times out of 20. The data were weighted according to census data to ensure that the sample matched Canada\u2019s population according to age, gender, educational attainment, and region. Totals may not add up to 100 due to rounding.<\/p>\n Mental Health Research Canada (MHRC) is a national charity that serves to advance mental health through studentships, granting, data collection\/analysis and strategic initiatives. As a leading mental health organization in Canada, we are dedicated to improving the lives of all Canadians by advancing mental health knowledge in unique ways\u2014notably by leading, seeding and influencing to create better mental health systems. One example of our work is funded by Health Canada to monitor and report on the mental health of Canadians. We collect population data, analyze and report on it to governments and stakeholders nationally to support data informed decision-making on what people need and how our services are performing. Mental health systems and services cannot improve without research \u2013 research is an investment in the future.<\/p>\n As Canada\u2019s only national non-profit health and benefits company, GreenShield believes health care is a right, not a privilege. We\u2019re dedicated to improving health outcomes, driving systemic change, and building a future where every Canadian can reach their full health potential.<\/p>\n We are revolutionizing the health and benefits experience with coverage and care in one place. Through our unique integrated payer-provider (\u201cpayvider\u201d) model, offering insurance, administering benefits and paying claims as a \u2018payer\u2019 while offering health services such as mental health, pharmacy, telemedicine and chronic disease management as a \u2018provider\u2019.<\/p>\n As a non-profit social enterprise, we don\u2019t have shareholders, which allows us to prioritize and reinvest our excess earnings to directly support underserved communities. Through GreenShield Cares, we\u2019ve committed $75 million to improve the health of over one million Canadians by the end of 2025, focusing on mental health, essential medicines, and chronic disease management. Our scalable initiatives deliver meaningful change in pursuit of Better Health for All.<\/p>\n GreenShield is proud to be recognized as one of Canada\u2019s Most Admired Corporate Cultures, a leading Imagine Canada Caring Company, and named on the Fortune\u2019s Change the World list. \u2028For more information, visit greenshield.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n SOURCE: GreenShield<\/em><\/p>\n Tags: Green Shield Canada (GSC)<\/a>, mental health care<\/a>, survey<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" GreenShield Responds with Free Therapy Initiative to Support All Canadians Toronto, ON (Mar. 27, 2025) \u2013 As Canada-U.S. trade tensions escalate and the cost of living continues to rise, new data reveals nearly half...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[1],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23305"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23305\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Research Methodology:<\/h4>\n
National Poll 23 \u200d<\/h4>\n
\u200d<\/p>\nOmnibus Survey<\/h4>\n
About Mental Health Research Canada<\/h4>\n
About GreenShield<\/h4>\n