Guelph clinic petitions Ontario to fund psychotherapy under OHIP

GUELPH — A Guelph psychotherapist is launching a petition for the Ontario government to fund psychotherapy under the provincial health plan.

Marinela Trickett, clinical director of Trickett Psychotherapy, is preparing the petition for presentation at Queen's Park, with November as the target.

"When people search online or ask AI, 'What is the best and cheapest psychotherapist or counsellor for anxiety?' the question itself reveals the problem," Trickett said.

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"Mental health therapy should not become a race to find the lowest priced session. A lower fee is not a saving if the practitioner is not the appropriate clinical fit for the person's needs."

OHIP does not pay for psychotherapy delivered by a registered psychotherapist in private practice, meaning Ontarians generally rely on workplace benefits, pay out of pocket or wait for a narrower publicly funded program.

Trickett said the petition grew from a sentence she has heard for more than two decades: "I know I need therapy, but I can't afford it."

The campaign asks Ontario to fund psychotherapy delivered by qualified, regulated providers and invites Ontarians to add their names in support.

"People should be able to choose care based on competence, experience, therapeutic approach, and the relationship they can build with the practitioner, not simply on what they can afford that week or month," Trickett said.

Guelph MPP Mike Schreiner has been brought into the conversation about access, according to the clinic.

National data points to a significant gap in mental health care.

The Canadian Institute for Health Information reported that in 2024, 41 percent of Canadian adults with a diagnosed mental health disorder had needs that were only partly met or not met at all. In Ontario, the figure was 40 percent.

Among people referred to community mental health counselling in 2024-25, half were seen within 30 days, while one in ten waited longer than four months.

A Statistics Canada study published in January 2026, using the 2022 Mental Health and Access to Care Survey, found that 32 percent of people with a mood or anxiety disorder who needed counselling or therapy and had not received it cited an inability to pay.

A CSA Public Policy Centre report published in April 2026 put the annual economic cost of mental illness in Canada at $180 billion, across health care, emergency services, justice and housing supports.

Employers carried more than $110 billion of that cost, the report found. Governments spent more responding to the consequences, about $28 billion, than they invested in mental health care and prevention combined, about $23 billion.

The gap is sharper for care that has to be specific and sustained, such as dialectical behaviour therapy for borderline personality disorder or support for postpartum depression.

Statistics Canada's 2024 Parental Experiences Survey, released in February 2026, found that one in five mothers and birthing parents who had emotional or mental health challenges in pregnancy or after birth needed mental health care and did not receive it. In Ontario, that share was 22 percent.

"The goal is not to tell Ontarians which therapist to choose," Trickett said. "It is to give them a fairer chance to choose the right one."

The petition is to be presented at Queen's Park shortly.

With files from Financial Post