{"id":376179,"date":"2026-03-09T17:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T17:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/376179\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T17:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T17:14:09","slug":"gen-z-prioritizing-mental-health-care-more-than-other-generations-despite-the-high-price-tag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/376179\/","title":{"rendered":"Gen Z prioritizing mental-health care more than other generations, despite the high price tag"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Maury Hansen makes just under $50,000 a year \u2013 a salary that she says is good for Fredericton \u2013 but without benefits, a lot of it goes toward maintaining her mental health.Photography by Chris Donovan\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

For Maury Hansen, 27, mental-health care and medication are not optional. Mx. Hansen, a hospitality worker in Fredericton, has diagnoses of bipolar disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and spends about $500 a month on drugs and therapy. <\/p>\n

\u201cWithout medication, I can\u2019t eat, I can\u2019t sleep, I can\u2019t work,\u201d says Mx. Hansen, noting many people in her social circle access therapy, mental-health drugs, or both. \u201cSome people are in the position where they have to choose food or medication, and if that was me, I would choose medication.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mx. Hansen makes just under $50,000 a year \u2013 a salary that she says is good for where she lives. But without benefits, a lot of that money goes toward maintaining her mental equilibrium. In addition to medication and therapy, she says healthy eating and pet ownership contribute to her well-being, neither of which are cheap.<\/p>\n

Mx. Hansen is at the older end of Generation Z, a cohort more comfortable discussing and seeking mental-health care than those before them. <\/p>\n

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A recent report<\/a> from insurance company Sun Life found Gen Z\u2019s use of antidepressants is growing at double the rate of the population overall, and that for Gen Z women, mental-health disorders make up more than 60 per cent of long-term disability claims. <\/p>\n

The report, which used data from health benefits claims of more than 20,000 Canadian employers and three million plan members, also found more Gen Z men are seeing therapists, with visits to psychologists growing at a rate faster than for women, and at twice the rate of the broader plan member population.<\/p>\n

\u201cGen Z has been raised with a greater openness about mental health challenges than other generations,\u201d the report <\/b>states. \u201cWhile some stigma remains, Gen Z is the most open about discussing and seeking help for mental health issues that arise.\u201d<\/p>\n

That assessment rings true for Mx. Hansen, who doesn\u2019t believe her generation is more mentally unwell than those before it. She says many people she knows have similar mental-health conditions as one of their parents, but the parents lack diagnoses and aren\u2019t seeking care or medication. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

A recent report from Sun Life found Gen Z\u2019s use of antidepressants is growing at double the rate of the population overall.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of older generations have the pull-yourself-by-your-bootstraps mentality, but medication and therapy, for this generation, are our bootstraps,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

The Sun Life report also links this cohort\u2019s mental-health issues to the world they have grown up in. <\/p>\n

\u201cGen Zs have faced record high rents and a rising cost of living at the start of their careers,\u201d it says. \u201cThey also carry higher levels of student debt and are more likely to experience precarious employment. Over half report experiencing anxiety, depression, and mental health challenges due to financial stress.\u201d<\/p>\n

That commitment to mental health comes at a cost for people still working to establish themselves. While most provincial health insurance plans cover psychiatry, they usually don\u2019t cover psychotherapists, psychologists and several other talk therapy practitioners.<\/p>\n

Even for Canadians with employer-provided supplementary health benefits, coverage is often only enough for a couple of <\/b>therapy sessions a year, says Chris Gory, founder of Orchard Benefits, which supplies benefit packages to more than 100 Canadian companies. <\/p>\n

He says the majority of plans have a yearly cap of $500 per practitioner, and many cover 80 per cent of visit costs. With hourly rates for psychologists, the most commonly covered type of practitioner, typically above $200, such benefits would cover about three visits, with patients roughly paying $40 each time. <\/p>\n

Mr. Gory said most people who use their mental-health benefits tend to max them out. Meanwhile, most plans have unlimited coverage for drugs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can go on whatever drug they need, but because they have a cap on practitioners, they\u2019re not spending the money on that,\u201d he said, citing research from Manulife showing <\/b>only 10 per cent of their plan members on <\/b>mental-health medication also see a mental-health practitioner. \u201cThat number really surprised me when I saw it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Manulife research<\/a> was shared in a presentation to benefits advisers <\/b>that the company held in November, 2022. It also reported a 76.6-per-cent increase over four years in the number of members on long-term disability between the ages of 18 and 24.<\/p>\n

Strong <\/b>mental-health benefits are a selling point for younger workers and a boon for companies looking to differentiate themselves, says Joey Walters, vice-president of human resources at Schneider Electric Canada. His company\u2019s benefits offer $2,000 in mental-health practitioner coverage, along with <\/b>access to an online therapy portal, an employee assistance program and seminars on mental and financial health.<\/p>\n

The company also allows employees to pay into a \u201crecharge break\u201d program, where their contributions are matched, and they can <\/b>take a paid six- to eight-week break every three to four years. Mr. Walters says providing various pathways to mental health and self-care accommodates the needs of a wider range of workers. <\/p>\n

\u201cEmployees now are struggling,\u201d he said. \u201cThey need support they can understand and make sure they don\u2019t feel judged. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not seen as, \u2018This is a nice perk.\u2019 It has to be a core part of the business,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Are you a young Canadian with money on your mind? To set yourself up for success and steer clear of costly mistakes, listen to our award-winning Stress Test podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Maury Hansen makes just under $50,000 a year \u2013 a salary that she…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376180,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[276],"tags":[18,135,19,17,167,502,65035],"class_list":{"0":"post-376179","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-mental-health","13":"tag-mentalhealth","14":"tag-pleasemod"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116200345868977271","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}