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Fit for purpose: Technology with heart
eMental Health International Collaborative (eMHIC) Congress, and developed with support from Mental Health Research Canada, it presents six priorities and twelve recommendations for navigating Canada’s next steps in digital mental health care. We applied this same human- centred principle to app safety. When thousands of mental health apps saturated the market — many making broad and unsubstantiated claims — we convened more than 200 collaborators from across the health-care spectrum to develop the Commission’s Mental Health App Assessment Framework in partnership with the Organisation for the Review of Care and Health Apps (ORCHA). Lived experience expertise was central to the development of the framework. To date, we’ve assessed more than 20 apps and witnessed developers proactively improve their app, ensuring it is high- quality for the Canadian public. The real-world impact is already evident. Our work with the government of Newfoundland and Labrador led to Canada’s first provincial app library, which gives people access to digital tools that are assessed for safety while saving time and offering peace of mind. Unprecedented technology, redoubled responsibility A decade into the digital mental health space, our early concerns seem almost quaint compared with the challenges presented by today’s AI revolution. Previously, AI was exploratory. Now it’s embedded in our daily
As director of innovation at the Mental Health Commission of Canada, I’ve learned that expertise without diverse perspectives yields too narrow a view for a field as complex as mental health. The digital transformation of mental health care isn’t coming — it’s here. Yet technology, with all its tremendous power, can’t tell the difference between right and wrong. Its quality depends entirely on its programming. That’s why over the past decade, as digital solutions have transformed mental health care, the Commission has served as a gathering place for health-care leaders, providers, people with lived experience, researchers, and policy makers to develop evidence-based guidance that acts as a
lives. A 2025 Actua report showed that 90% of Canadian youth use AI tools, highlighting their comfort with the technology. That technology moved fast. A few years ago, parents expressed concern about young people’s screen time; now, those worries have evolved to the impacts of deepfakes and other highly sophisticated online manipulations. As technology accelerates at lightning speed and becomes more complex, our commitment to quality and doing what is right must intensify. Exceptional digital mental health tools exist. They save lives by providing flexible care options, reducing stigma, boosting system efficiencies, and enabling anonymous mental health support. The outstanding eMHIC community worldwide knows this and lives this. Living these values means we don’t hold back critical progress; rather, we work in tandem to
compass and puts humanity at the heart of technology.
We are committed to supporting our community as it navigates increasingly complex digital terrain. Because ultimately, accessibility without quality is at best a false promise. Bearers of a moral compass: A human- centred track record Our National Strategy work exemplifies this approach. In 2022, we began developing Canada’s first National E-Mental Health Strategy. Half of our advisory committee brought personal experience with mental health challenges, ensuring lived-experience voices shaped our approach from day one. Launched in 2024 at the
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