Changing directions, changing lives

Changing Directions, Changing Lives is the first mental health strategy for Canada. Its purpose is to help improve mental health and well-being for all people living in Canada and to create a mental health system that can truly meet the needs of people of all ages living with mental health problems and illnesses and their families. 

Changing Directions, Changing Lives draws on the experience, knowledge and advice of thousands of people across the country. It provides an opportunity for everyone’s efforts — large and small, both inside and outside the mental health system — to help bring about change.

The report is organized around six strategic directions:

1. Promote mental health across the lifespan in homes, schools, and workplaces and prevent mental illness and suicide wherever possible.
2. Foster recovery and well-being for people of all ages living with mental health problems and illnesses, and uphold their rights.
3. Provide access to the right combination of services, treatments and supports, when and where people need them.
4. Reduce disparities in risk factors and access to mental health services, and strengthen the response to the needs of diverse communities and Northerners.
5. Work with First Nations, Inuit, and Metis to address their mental health needs, acknowledging their distinct circumstances, rights and cultures.
6. Mobilize leadership, improve knowledge, and foster collaboration at all levels.

Why we’re recommending this resource:

• Accuracy of information: well-researched, appropriately cited, and well written / organized  
• Authority: author is identifiable and has related qualifications and/or credentials / affiliated with a reputable institution 
• Objectivity: minimal to no biases or affiliations with a company selling products of promoting a questionable agenda. 
• Currency: information that is recent or has been recently endorsed  
• Canadian resource