A psychotherapist based in Guelph, Ont., has urged provincial authorities to broaden publicly funded coverage for mental health treatment, arguing that cost barriers are leaving a portion of the population without access to care. Marinela Trickett launched a petition calling on the province to extend OHIP coverage to psychotherapy services.

Trickett noted that the clinic's staff routinely field inquiries from individuals seeking mental health assistance they are financially unable to access.

Kari Parkhouse, 57, is among those who report that care costs have made it harder to access the support they require. Mental health has been part of Parkhouse's life for a long time. At the age of 19, she took medication in an attempt to end her own life and subsequently experienced a psychotic episode.

Years on, she described her situation in her own words: "I'm 57 years old." Parkhouse described anxiety and depression as conditions weighing on her considerably. She noted that more than ten years of self-employment had left her with virtually no avenue for recourse.

Therapy had been part of her life at various points and she described it as worthwhile, though the expense had become a barrier to keeping it up; in her own words, the financial pressure was something that had followed her throughout her entire career. No personal savings remain on hand, and she told a reporter that no registered retirement savings plan contributions were held in her name.

Trickett noted that Parkhouse's situation points to a wider gap in the system, adding that the organisation regularly hears from people across Ontario who are seeking emotional support or extended psychotherapy but cannot cover the cost. Psychotherapy, Trickett noted, receives only partial reimbursement through OHIP.

Trickett put forward broadening provincial health insurance to cover sessions delivered by registered psychotherapists — not just those conducted by medical doctors, who currently represent the only psychotherapy practitioners funded under the programme — as a way to extend mental health access to more residents. She noted that physicians who hold medical degrees account for only a small share of those delivering psychotherapy in clinical settings.

Demand for affordable psychotherapy has outpaced what Trickett's clinic can provide through its trainee-led, reduced-rate sessions.

Schreiner, who holds a seat in the Ontario legislature as a Green Party MPP, committed to bringing the petition forward when the assembly next convenes, adding that access to mental healthcare across the province should be available to all residents regardless of timing or location. Schreiner's statement argued that the provincial government's approach to mental healthcare places it financially out of reach for a large portion of residents.

The College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario, in remarks to a news outlet, noted that the province's pool of credentialled registered psychotherapists has been expanding, and that drawing more fully on that workforce within the broader healthcare system could widen access to appropriate care. The college added that while funding decisions and service delivery arrangements fall under government authority, its own mandate centres on verifying that registered psychotherapists meet standards of qualification, competence, and professional accountability.

The health minister's office stated that the province has directed $3.8 billion across a ten-year span under the Roadmap to Wellness toward building out mental health and addictions infrastructure throughout Ontario, while the no-cost Ontario Structured Psychotherapy Program — open to residents aged 18 and over — forms part of a broader set of community-based mental health investments, alongside ongoing efforts to reduce access barriers through regulatory adjustments in partnership with health system stakeholders.

A health ministry spokesperson indicated that the allocation had enabled the establishment of more than 32 Youth Wellness Hubs throughout the province, with those sites providing mental health care, peer support programs, recreational activities, and wellness resources to young people between the ages of 12 and 25, alongside access to cognitive behavioural therapy, a broadened Mobile Crisis Response Team network, and additional Rapid Access Addiction Medicine clinic locations.

Joining one of those programmes often means placing a name on a waiting list first. According to the Ontario Structured Psychotherapy Program, people applying through the West Region may not receive any initial contact for anywhere between six and eight weeks after submitting their application. Trickett noted that waiting periods at certain facilities stretch considerably longer than average, with queue times at some locations extending beyond two years before people can access the services they need.

Parkhouse described the difficulty of sustaining mental health treatment on a limited income over many years, and noted that without broader access to affordable care, she worried about reaching her sixties and seventies still unwell and without financial means — resorting to collecting change on a street corner with a Tim Hortons cup.