Limited access to developmentally appropriate, engaging virtual mental health care is among the most significant barriers to timely treatment for children and youth in Newfoundland and Labrador (NL). NL Health Services (NLHS) currently delivers pediatric and youth mental health services through the Janeway Children’s Hospital psychiatry program (province-wide), supported in part by conventional telehealth platforms designed primarily for adult populations. Lack of access to virtual care tools built for the developmental, cognitive, and engagement needs of children and youth can contribute to reduced treatment engagement, inconsistent clinical practice, and diminished therapeutic outcomes, particularly in NL’s rural and remote communities where in-person access is already limited. NLHS is seeking a technology-enabled solution, such as a virtual or hybrid therapy platform, that provides clinicians with engaging, developmentally appropriate tools to support pediatric and youth mental health care.
NLHS and CAN Health are posting this Call for Innovation to seek out qualified Canadian companies who can meet the following desired outcomes. NLHS and CAN Health reserve the right to not move forward with this project at its full discretion and in particular if there are no qualified Canadian companies that can reasonably meet the desired outcomes.
To qualify for a CAN Health project, the company must meet ALL the following criteria:
- Headquartered in Canada (additional criteria apply for companies not headquartered in Canada)
- Majority ownership of both the company and the solution by Canadians
- Solution at Technology Readiness Level (TRL)>7, indicating actual technology completed and qualified through tests and demonstrations
- All the data and AI models (if applicable) must be hosted in Canada and comply with all the Canadian privacy regulations
- Possess all regulatory approvals required for commercialization, such as Health Canada approval
- Completion of all required clinical validity/unity studies
- No need for policy changes to be widely adopted
- Strong use cases in the Canadian healthcare system
- Agreement to a Project Facilitation Agreement with CAN Health, with a facilitation fee that varies based on the scope of the project.
- Active Elevate Membership with CAN Health Network (must be active at the time of project launch; not required to apply).
If the company is not headquartered in Canada or the solution is not majority owned by Canadians, additional criteria apply:
- Independent autonomy over business operations and product development (for subsidiaries, affiliates or distributors)
- High Canadian job creation potential, especially in executive and senior management positions
- Commitment of over 70% of contract value to Canada.
During the company selection process, preference is given to companies/solutions fully owned by Canadians, followed by those majority owned by Canadians, and finally international companies with a significant presence and economic impact in Canada.
For more information on the Call for Innovation process and the commercialization projects funded by CAN Health Network, please refer to the FAQ page on the CAN Health Network website: https://canhealthnetwork.ca/faq/
Problem Statement:
NLHS is seeking virtual mental health care solutions that are specifically designed and tailored to the developmental needs of youth, and can improve engagement, access, and continuity of care. Newfoundland and Labrador’s geography has contributed to limited availability of providers, longer travel distances for in-person appointments, and increased wait times for youth-focused mental health therapy — resulting in many youth relying on acute or emergency services as a last resort, rather than receiving early and preventative care.
Objectives:
- Improve mental health access providing engaging mental health therapy for children and youth in rural and remote NL communities.
- Strengthen therapeutic alliance and engagement for young clients through evidence-based, interactive virtual care tools.
- Reduce clinician administrative burden through artificial intelligence (AI)-supported documentation and customizable, in-session tools.
Essential (mandatory) outcomes:
- High ratings of therapeutic alliance, reported by both clinicians and clients or caregivers.
- Positive clinician experience, including satisfaction with tool customization and a measurable reduction in administrative burden.
- Increased access for rural and remote children and youth, demonstrated through utilization rates and documented instances of treatment that would not otherwise have been accessible.
- Improved child engagement, measured through attendance, completion rates, and self-reported engagement.
- Positive family responses, measured through parent and caregiver ratings of convenience and accessibility.
- Creates a safe, interactive, and developmentally appropriate environment that supports expression, and improves therapeutic outcomes.
- Reduce costs associated with low engagement, likelihood of treatment duration and associated downstream effects.
The vendor must:
- Include a virtual care platform accessible across different operating systems and devices including MAC, PC, Android, and Apple.
- Offer interactive mental health engagement tools that can be accessed within virtual sessions.
- Leverage AI to reduce administrative burden.
- Include a flexible, customizable platform that supports evidence-based interventions, and enables the collection of meaningful data to inform care and demonstrate outcomes.
Children and youth in NL face significant barriers to timely, developmentally appropriate mental health care. Approximately 45% of NL’s population lives in rural communities, where limited provider availability, longer travel distances, and fewer specialized services extend wait times for youth-focused mental health therapy beyond what is typical in more urban areas of Canada. Between 2007 and 2018, youth hospitalizations for mental health reasons in NL increased by 65%, and an estimated 22,000 children in the province remain in need of mental health support that is largely unavailable (CIHI, 2019).
This local gap reflects a broader national challenge. Nationally, about 1 in 5 Canadians will experience a mental health challenge by early adulthood, with more than 70% of cases beginning before age 18 (CIHI), and about 1 in 10 Canadians wait approximately 12 months or longer to access community mental health therapy, with even longer waits in rural and remote communities. Virtual care use has grown rapidly since the COVID-19 pandemic, with over 70% of mental health visits now conducted virtually, but children and youth have not benefited equally: among Ontario youth with high mental health service needs, only 1.5% access telehealth services (Toulany et al., 2022).
This gap exists largely because existing virtual care platforms and digital mental health tools are not designed to meet the developmental, cognitive, and engagement needs of children and teens, which reduces their effectiveness with younger populations (Schriger et al., 2022) and often leads to disengagement when youth are moved onto conventional telehealth platforms. Without a virtual care solution purpose-built for young people, NLHS’s rural and remote paediatric patients will continue to face delayed access to care, increasing the risk that unmet needs progress into crisis-level presentations, hospitalizations, and long-term strain on the health and social systems.
