Come Together
Integrated Care Must Address Social Connection
Loneliness is a health risk — and one that our care systems aren't designed to catch. Across Canada, 13% of people aged 15 and older report feeling lonely "always or often" (Statistics Canada, 2024). For youth aged 15–24, the rate is 17% (Statistics Canada, 2024). Among seniors in the lowest income group, it reaches 25% (Statistics Canada, 2023). And 79% of people in recovery from substance use and addiction challenges report feeling lonely (Ingram et al., 2020).
These aren't isolated data points. They describe a pattern: the populations most likely to need mental health and addiction supports are also the most likely to be disconnected from the relationships that protect their health.
The health consequences of prolonged loneliness are well documented — from cardiovascular risk to depressive symptoms to faster physiological decline. But the more pressing question for our sector is a systems question: why does social connection so rarely appear as a formal component of care?
Most pathways are built to treat symptoms, not to address the isolation that worsens outcomes and undermines recovery. Canadians with mental health-related disabilities are less likely to be socially connected (35%) compared to the general population without disabilities (42%) (Statistics Canada, 2023). People in recovery face the compounding challenge of losing previous social networks while navigating the difficult work of building new, supportive ones (Ingram et al., 2020). Without coordinated support, the conditions for connection simply aren't there.
Integrated care offers a different model. When mental health, addiction and social supports are coordinated within a single pathway, there is an opportunity to identify and respond to isolation as part of treatment — not as an afterthought. This means connecting individuals to community programs, peer support networks and the social and economic resources that make sustained connection possible: stable housing, meaningful employment, reliable transportation and adequate income.
Research confirms that strong social support is linked to higher well-being, greater resilience and longer life expectancy (Holt-Lunstad, 2024). Connection is not a soft outcome. It is a measurable protective factor — one that integrated care pathways are uniquely positioned to deliver.
At the MH+A Alliance, our member organizations are building these pathways. We bring together community health organizations to design care models that treat social connection as a clinical priority, not a personal responsibility. We work with partners across the health, social and policy landscape to ensure that the systems people rely on are coordinated, accessible and responsive to the full picture of what recovery and well-being require.
Connection doesn't happen by accident. It requires investment, coordination and the political will to treat it as the health issue it is.