While some students are eager to return to class after a summer of freedom, others face a torrent of anxiety.
Whether it’s struggles in the classroom or trouble navigating social relationships, the pressures of school can be most keenly felt in September. And while experts say that has always been a time when worries increase, they note the trend has been growing in recent years.
They say that increased time spent online, along with economic and social pressures, is exacerbating mental health concerns for young people. And as the system struggles to keep up with more and more calls for help, youth mental health providers in Ontario are bracing for September’s typical spike in volume.
“We are in an era where children have more demands on them than ever before with less resources,” said Dr. Katherine Matheson, a children and adolescent psychiatrist at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario.
Matheson said children are spending less and less time playing freely and going outside, and the effects of social media on mental health “cannot be underestimated.”
Ontario’s auditor general says the province is failing to provide adequate mental health services for youth and children. As CBC’s Shawn Jeffords reports, wait times for intensive treatment have grown and now take more than three months.
The result: The number of children, youth and families seeking mental health support peaks during the school year, according to 1Call1Click, which co-ordinates those services in eastern Ontario.
Demand has risen by 69 per cent over four years and is projected to climb higher this year, according to the group. The number of children under the age of six seeking help doubled to more than 1,000 last year from 502 in 2024, its data shows.
And demand for mental health services tends to increase when school resumes, Matheson said. One reason is that some vulnerabilities are more likely to be picked up on by teachers and other education workers, she said.
Summer can mask various issues for youth, and parents don’t always have the specialized knowledge to recognize symptoms on their own. For example, a child with ADHD may function better when they can pursue their interests with no deadline pressures and fewer expectations, she explained.
“September doesn’t necessarily create the problem — it reveals the problem,” she said. “Early intervention can actually shift trajectories and long-term mental health outcomes.”
Families need access to help at schools, primary care
But as more families seek help, funding for the mental health system in Ontario has not kept up, Matheson said, and services are already overwhelmed when demand climbs in September.
But she said the solution is not necessarily to add more capacity to crisis services.
If children and families had better access to help from schools, communities and primary care providers, their problems could be addressed before they become “more severe,” Matheson said.
Dr. Ripudaman Minhas, a developmental pediatrician at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, said he sees demand climb about a month into the school year, when students are settled in and issues become obvious.
As a result, wait lists grow and it becomes more difficult for youth to access mental health or developmental care, Minhas said.
An annual report from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health found that 46 per cent of Ontario teenagers reported experiencing a moderate to serious level of psychological distress, which is closer to pre-pandemic levels but still an increase from a decade ago.
He echoed that youth mental health is a “shared responsibility” and that families should make space to talk about wellbeing at home before the situation escalates into a full-blown crisis.
Minhas added that youth mental health issues can manifest as absenteeism. He urged parents to consider that their children may be refusing to go to school because of social isolation or bullying. Mental health issues can also cause youth to complain of symptoms such as headaches or stomachaches, he said.
Families should take a “broad lens” to approach absenteeism problems instead of simply assuming their child is being lazy, he explained.
Kids Help Phone expects spike in calls, overnight demand
An affordability crisis, climate anxiety and fears about artificial intelligence taking away jobs are also exacerbating youth mental health, said Rebecca Shields, the president of Kids Help Phone.
The 24-7 mental health support line has also been seeing more calls and texts for help come in overnight.
Shields expects a 10 per cent bump in demand for services when school starts. The helpline also recently recorded a 27 per cent spike in demand during the overnight hours.
“Going back to school is a time when there’s a lot of uncertainty and unknown,” she said, including for people transitioning from high school to post-secondary school.
Demand is climbing overnight because that’s often the only free time youth have after school and extracurriculars, and late-night doomscrolling can fuel anxiety, she said.
“All of sudden, now you’re back in school, and it can really feel isolating and lonely,” she said.
Young people are “feeling they have no control, and the people who are in power aren’t listening,” Shields said.
“I wish I could say there’s a quick fix. But unfortunately, the pressures for young people in this world are harder than ever.”
Kids Help Phone needs to hire more trained support workers across Canada, she said, adding a text for help comes in every 90 seconds overnight.
“Whenever a young person reaches out, they trust that there will be somebody on the other end of the phone, and that we’re not backed up by volume,” she said.
“That’s certainly something that keeps me up at night.”
Shields urged families to try to understand youth without judgment and connect them to outside resources. She said she makes sure her own children know the Kids Help Phone number and encourages them to talk to professionals outside of the family.
“I truly believe that sometimes, young people need a trusted caring adult that is professionally trained, that is safe, that is not going to lead them down the wrong path the way an AI chatbot will,” she said.
“All of us need help from time to time.”
