AI in Mental Health: Addressing the Trust Gap
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AI is already becoming part of how people seek mental health support, but trust has not kept pace.
Our recent findings estimate that about six million people in Canada used, or may have used, AI-enabled tools for mental health support in the past year, while only 14% of the broader public trusts AI to provide safe and helpful support. What is drawing people to these tools? What’s keeping them away? Where might AI tools add value, and what safeguards are needed when privacy, informed consent, equity and professional judgment are at stake?
In this episode of The Better Mental Health Briefing, we bring together perspectives from research, system leadership and provider practice to explore what the newest research shows, what it can’t yet tell us and what responsible, human-centred use of AI should look like. The conversation focuses not on replacing professional mental health care with AI, but on ensuring that innovation is guided by evidence, accountability and the needs of the people it is meant to serve.
Expert Voices
Michael Cooper
Mental Health Research Canada
Michael Cooper is Vice-President, Data & Partnerships at Mental Health Research Canada, with more than 16 years of experience in fund development, project management and government relations. He focuses on using data to inform policy and improve mental health care and oversees MHRC’s large-scale data project tracking the ongoing mental health of people in Canada. This work helps translate population-level findings into evidence that can inform policy, partnerships and improvements in mental health care.
Maureen Abbott
Mental Health Commission of Canada
Maureen Abbott is Director, Innovation at the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) and a Certified Health Executive (CHE). Her work focuses on e-mental health, policy and research, including AI guidance and e-mental health strategy and implementation. She chairs the MHCC’s E-Mental Health Collaborative and works closely with its lived experience councils. She is a CHIEF Executive member with Digital Health Canada. Her background also includes standards and accreditation, strategic planning and quality improvement across the not-for-profit health sector.
Dr. Amy Porath
Knowledge Institute on Child and Youth Mental Health and Addictions
Dr. Amy Porath is the Director of Research and Knowledge Mobilization at the Knowledge Institute on Child and Youth Mental Health and Addictions. Committed to advancing high-quality care, Amy is a trusted advisor on system transformation across the mental health, substance use health and addictions sector. She contributes her expertise to policy, practice, programs and quality standards. Amy is also an adjunct professor in the University of Ottawa’s School of Psychology and an investigator at the CHEO Research Institute. She serves on the Mississippi River Health Alliance’s Allied Boards of Directors. Her leadership in providing people in Canada with evidence to make informed decisions about cannabis during legalization led to her being named one of Canada’s Top 100 Health Influencers in 2019 and 2020. Amy holds a PhD in Psychology and is a Certified Health Executive (CHE).
Dr. Simona Gandrabur
Mila – Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute
Dr. Simona Gandrabur is an AI innovation leader with 20+ years of experience across research, product delivery, and business strategy. She is currently Head of the AI Safety Studio at Mila, directing the development of safe AI systems and open infrastructure for safety benchmarks. Notably, she delivered MVP semantic guardrails for AI companions and partnered with Bell and Kids Help Phone to lead Canada’s first national youth AI safety hackathon across 45 cities. Simona holds a PhD in Computer Science and completed post-doctoral research in Statistical NLP at Université de Montréal.
What is The Better Mental Health Briefing?
The Better Mental Health Briefing is MHRC’s webcast series that puts mental health research into context. Each edition brings together researchers, experts and other informed voices to examine what the evidence tells us, what it may mean and how it could support better decisions for people in Canada. From time to time, the series may also feature initiatives, such as MHRC’s studentships, that help support and expand mental health research.
