From crisis to recovery: Exploring the demand surge for mental health services in Alberta, Canada—A document-based policy analysis with an illustrative supply–demand simulation (2023–2024)

Kola Adegoke, Abimbola Adegoke, Deborah Dawodu, Ayoola Bayowa, Akorede Adekoya, Temitope Kayode, Mallika Singh, Olajide Alfred Durojaye, Abiodun Isola Aluko and Adeyinka Adegoke

PLOS Mental Health, 2026, vol. 3, issue 3, 1-16

Abstract: COVID-19 coincided with increased mental health needs in Alberta, Canada, intensifying pre-existing access gaps and service strain. Alberta responded with publicly funded interventions spanning digital care, youth-focused services, and recovery-oriented programs. To evaluate Alberta’s system-level response to pandemic-related increases in mental health help-seeking/service uptake using a health economics and policy lens. We extracted empirically reported program delivery outputs from the 2023–2024 Alberta Mental Health and Addiction Annual Report. We used a simulation calibrated to reported trends to examine directional changes in help-seeking (demand), service capacity (supply), and the modeled equilibrium quantity under a zero-copayment design. Empirically reported outputs indicate that delivery met or exceeded planned/funded milestones for CASA Mental Health, VODP, and tele-mental health, while recovery communities reflected phased implementation. In the illustrative simulation, the demand-implied volume increases from 60 to 87 services/month, but delivered volume is capacity-constrained at 78 services/month (implying ~9 services/month unmet demand), while a unit-cost proxy is held constant for visualization (not an observed market price or patient copayment). Alberta’s response illustrates how coordinated, publicly funded capacity expansion and access-oriented policies can support service delivery during system shocks; the model also highlights that if capacity growth lags demand growth, unmet need may persist even under zero copayment.Summary: During the COVID-19 pandemic, more people in Alberta needed mental health and addiction support. Alberta responded by expanding publicly funded services, including youth programs (CASA Mental Health classrooms), same-day virtual opioid treatment (VODP), tele-mental health, and recovery communities. Using Alberta’s 2023–2024 public reporting, we summarize what programs were planned to deliver and what they actually delivered. We also use a simple, illustrative supply–demand simulation (not direct price measurement) to show how increasing service capacity at the same time as help-seeking rises can increase the number of services delivered while keeping user costs at zero. Overall, Alberta’s approach shows how coordinated public investment and service redesign can support access during a system shock. To sustain progress, Alberta will likely need continued workforce investment, strong digital access in rural areas, and equity-focused service design for youth and Indigenous communities.

Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.plos.org/mentalhealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmen.0000307 (text/html)
https://journals.plos.org/mentalhealth/article/fil ... 00307&type=printable (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pmen00:0000307

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmen.0000307

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in PLOS Mental Health from Public Library of Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by mentalhealth ().