The Ontario Association of Social Workers (OASW) has shared its priorities for Ontario’s 2026 budget, including three concrete actions that target barriers to mental health and address a key social determinant of poor mental health: poverty.
Care & Insight: Meeting Ontario’s Mental Health Needs Together provides policymakers with direct recommendations that are informed by the experience of OASW members who provide frontline care and social support to thousands of Ontarians.
In 2026, OASW urges the province to:
- Create a funding envelope to increase social work capacity in Ontario’s publicly supported schools, ensuring at least one Registered Social Worker (RSW) per school.
- Continue the government's expansion of interprofessional primary care teams and ensure dedicated funding for Registered Social Workers.
- Increase support delivered through the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) and Ontario Works (OW) to livable levels to ensure they meet the basic needs of individuals and families, and index OW rates to inflation annually to ensure they continue to keep pace with the rising cost of living.
These recommendations were submitted to the Minister of Finance and to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs.
We are committed to a continued partnership with the Ontario government to address our province’s mental health needs, and we believe these recommendations support the province’s commitment to expanding access to mental health care and support.