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Sector Compensation

Without an increase in wages, the sector will continue to lose valuable staff
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Recruiting & Retaining Healthcare Professionals

Low salaries in the mental health and addiction sector are leading to higher staff turnover, understaffing, burnout, longer wait times and higher client-to-staff ratios.

An AMHO analysis of job postings found an average 30% pay gap for addiction counsellors, addiction therapists, therapists, support workers, psychotherapists, case managers, and overnight attendants at community-based organizations when compared to similar positions at hospitals. Staff from community mental health and addictions are leaving to work in sectors that provide better compensation.
  • The Results of Below-Average Compensation
    Without base funding for organizations to address health human resources challenges, Ontarians will continue to turn to shelters, emergency departments and hospitals which are overwhelmed and under-resourced.

    Insufficient access to mental health and addictions services can lead to:

      • Increased medical leaves from work and/or job loss
      • Strained and broken family and social relationships
      • More cases of drug poisoning and suicides
      • Added stress on hospitals and emergency departments
      • Increased use of emergency shelters
      • Greater burden on the correctional services system
  • The Impact
    With more annualized funding, organizations can expand the provision of services with appropriate staffing levels. In turn, this will reduce wait lists and improve access to appropriate levels of care.
    Lower Wait Times for Services

    Increased funding will improve access to services with the highest demand and address wait times based on local needs, including hiring new staff to expand access to care.

    Eliminate the Sector Compensation Gap

    Funding increases will allow our members to pay a more competitive wage to hire and retain more trained and experienced staff to improve service delivery and reduce wait lists.

    Improve Treatment Outcomes

    Most importantly, increased funding will mean that Ontarians will receive appropriate mental health and addiction care closer to home.

How AMHO Helps

AMHO has worked on health human resources (HHR) to secure more funding to bridge the compensation gap and ensure AMHO members can compensate their staff fairly.


AMHO’s membership relies on the organization to gather and provide information on HHR which they can use to improve their compensation and staffing levels.
webinars
Informative webinars regarding compensation and HHR best practices for improvement
support
Support and reporting on government policy changes
awareness
Raising public and government awareness of the mental health and addiction crisis in Ontario
“Without mental health, there can be no true physical health.” Dr. Brock Chisholm Canadian Psychiatrist First Director-General of the World Health Organization
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