What Advocacy Reports and Statistics Does Children's Mental Health Ontario Publish?

Children's Mental Health Ontario (CMHO) publishes three main categories of public information: advocacy reports, a feature report on current issues, and a "Facts & Figures" collection of statistics about child and youth mental health in Ontario. These materials are aimed at the public, professionals, and policymakers, and are used to identify policy challenges and push for system improvements. You can find them through the corresponding sections on cmho.org.

The Three Main Content Areas

CMHO's site organizes its advocacy and data content into distinct sections, each serving a different purpose:

What the Statistics Cover

The "Facts & Figures" collection is where CMHO gathers quantitative data on the state of child and youth mental health in Ontario. The most prominent figure on the site concerns wait times:

• 28,000 Ontario children and youth are waiting for mental health services.
• For some families, the wait is up to two and a half years.
• The longest wait for service can reach 919 days.

These numbers anchor CMHO's "Kids Can't Wait" campaign, which urges the Ontario government to end the wait. The campaign page states that 28,000 children are on the wait list, some waiting as long as 2.5 years, with the longest wait reaching 919 days.

What the Advocacy Reports Do

CMHO describes its advocacy reports as aiming to "identify challenges and solutions to important policy issues affecting kids' mental health." This means the reports are not purely descriptive — they pair problem identification with proposed responses. They sit alongside CMHO's broader advocacy work, which the organization describes as advocating for investments, policies, and programs for children, youth, and families seeking mental health services in Ontario.

Where These Fit in CMHO's Role

CMHO represents Ontario's publicly-funded Child and Youth Mental Health Centres. Its stated goal is to promote a coordinated, high-quality system of care that puts infants, children, youth, and families first. The advocacy reports and statistics are the evidence base for that goal — they document what's happening in the system and argue for what should change.

The site also notes that CMHO regularly publishes its statistics collection, so the Facts & Figures section is worth checking periodically rather than treating as a one-time snapshot.

How to Use These Resources

If you want to understand the state of child and youth mental health in Ontario, start with Facts & Figures for the numbers, then read the Advocacy Report for CMHO's interpretation and proposed solutions. The Feature Report is the place to look for the most current news on wait times and related issues. All three are accessible from cmho.org.