Canadian mental health down in June: Study

A new study shows that after months of improvement, Canadians' mental health appears to be taking a hit, and people are equally stressed about both work and their personal lives.

The LifeWorks Mental Health Index is a survey taken in the first two weeks of June with 3000 Canadian respondents. The latest results show Canadians’ mental health is down nearly a full point from the previous month, to 64.1 per cent. The primary sources of stress were split equally between work and personal.

"We're still very sensitive to stress after everything that we've been through over the last two years,” said Paula Allen, senior vice president of research at LifeWorks, “but we've also had a big whammy in terms of a very large change in our economic situation in terms of inflation, job changes, recession, all of those things.”

Clinical psychologist Doctor Jo Ann Unger says there are a lot of stressors impacting Canadians.

"Sometimes you may think, 'aren't things getting better? Shouldn't we be feeling better?,' we have to take into account that it's been a long time of chronic stress and that isn't something we are going to rebound at quickly."

Unger says you should make space for how you feel and make time for those things that refill your tank, "things like positive social connection, spending time outside, physical activity, working towards out valued goals, connecting with meaning, giving back to others, gratitude practice, self-compassion practice, rest and relaxation and having fun."

For Katie Rice, that's going to Ai-Kon Winnipeg as her favourite anime character. "I just got off vacation so I just had a good week so my mental health is much better, but I didn't realize how kind of poor it was until I took this vacation for myself."