Plan sponsors have invested more in mental health than ever before. More EAP sessions. Higher extended health limits. Virtual primary care.
And yet claims keep rising. Absenteeism is up. Long-term disability costs aren't coming down.
The investment is real. So what’s missing?
The framework that changes the conversation
The most effective mental health strategies aren't just wide, they're diversified. Think of coverage across three dimensions:
Breadth — the range of entry points and conditions your plan covers. This is where most organizations have done the most work, and it's the right place to start.
Depth — support for complex, ongoing needs. Conditions like anxiety and depression exist on a continuum. A plan that opens the door doesn't necessarily help someone navigate what's on the other side.
Frequency — the consistency of care that actually changes behaviour over time. One-off support helps in a crisis. Sustained, reinforcing care builds long-term resilience.
Most plans handle breadth reasonably well. The gap and the opportunity, however, is in depth and frequency.
Where the employee journey breaks down
That framework becomes clearer when you map it to how employees actually experience mental health challenges at work.
Recognition — Something feels off. Stress, anxiety, difficulty sleeping. At this stage, employees need low-barrier access to information, self-assessment tools and an easy path to support. Breadth does real work here.
Access — They decide to seek help. Is the process simple? Is the wait manageable? Do they know where to go? Good breadth coverage should carry people through this stage but gaps in navigation lose them here more often than most plans realize.
Active treatment — They're working with a therapist or practitioner. Are sessions capped at 10? Is coverage running out before the issue resolves? This is where depth gaps become visible. For conditions that require ongoing management like ADHD, complex depression, and chronic anxiety, 10 sessions isn't a treatment plan. It's a starting point.
Sustained recovery — They're feeling better. But without ongoing support, relapse risk rises. This is the frequency gap. Without consistent reinforcement through continued support their hard-won progress erodes.
When you map your current coverage against these four stages, you'll see exactly where it's working and where it's thin.
Why this matters at scale
According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, Close to 30% of your workforce will have to navigate some kind of mental health journey. 14% of Canadians will experience major depressive disorder in their lifetime. Another 13% will live with generalized anxiety.
And according to CSA Group, Canadian employers absorb roughly $110 billion of the $180 billion in annual mental health-related costs.
This isn't a niche benefits question. It's a workforce strategy question.
A path forward — starting where you are
The good news? You don't have to overhaul everything at once. A phased approach is doable, and makes this framework achievable for any organization:
Crawl — Establish a unified platform with EAP and virtual care as your breadth baseline. Make access simple and navigation clear.
Walk — Add depth through specialized programs for conditions that require more than short-term support — ADHD, complex mental health needs, chronic conditions.
Run — Introduce frequency with unlimited therapy access, high-engagement digital therapeutics, and pre-disability programs.
Near-term, bundling services can unlock meaningful savings to reinvest in depth and frequency. Long-term, a more intentionally designed strategy reduces your long-term disability exposure and delivers the outcomes your investment is built around.
Increasing access to mental health support was the right first step — and for many organizations, it's made a real difference. The next step is designing a strategy that meets employees wherever they are in their journey.
For plan sponsors thinking through what a more diversified mental health strategy could look like, Maple works with organizations to build programs that are intentional, evidence-informed and built for the real needs of a workforce.