The Royal welcomes a new addition to the board of trustees, Tyler Meredith.
Meredith is a public policy entrepreneur and past head of economic and fiscal policy for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as well as Chrystia Freeland and Bill Morneau.
Born and raised in Ottawa, Meredith’s understanding and experience with mental health is as broad as it is varied. His partner works as a clinical social worker at a local hospital and also provides mental health services to rural communities in the Champlain region. This added perspective played a role in shaping Meredith’s understanding of how the pandemic magnified challenges faced by healthcare providers, as well as the important role The Royal plays in the community.
“My eyes really opened to the significant challenges that we all face around mental health,” says Meredith. “I see day-to-day, the really significant challenges, both in terms of the need for service but also the role of frontline health care workers.”
He also brings some personal experience to the table. In the spring of 2020, Meredith was at the centre of managing the federal government’s economic response. His workday often started at 7 a.m. and ended at midnight. It had a toll on his mental health.
“I found it challenging, to be honest,” says Meredith, who found EAP resources to be helpful during this stressful time. “I was able to manage the stress and the anxiety and not be consumed by it.”
As a policy analyst and consultant, Meredith spends much of his time finding creative solutions to big problems.
His past work experience introduced him to the many issues facing healthcare organizations and service providers. Meredith was involved in drafting the 2017 Health Accord (a legal agreement between the federal and provincial/territorial governments on health-care funding) and developing the concept of the Canada Mental Health Transfer (a federal transfer to provinces and territories to assist jurisdictions to expand the delivery of mental health services).
“This was the first time we actually set aside a transfer of funding specifically for mental health services because we wanted to nudge provinces in the direction of acknowledging that this is a part of the health system that has been underfunded and needs to be to be given its own proper support,” he recalls. During this time, he met experts in the field including Dr. Catherine Zhan, who was then president and CEO of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), and George Weber, who was the CEO of The Royal.
“In my experience, some of the best work you can do – and the most impactful ideas – come from actually getting out and being in the community and getting to know the experts who are themselves working on these things, and taking those ideas back into the policy makers,” says Meredith.
Areas of concern for Meredith include healthy workplaces, access to services, and, drawing on his background with the federal government, the economic impact of mental health. According to the Mental Health Commission of Canada, one in five people in Canada experience a mental health problem or illness in any given year. The annual cost to our economy is over $50 billion, which includes health care costs, lost productivity, and reductions in health-related quality of life.
“As many of us know first hand, good mental health and self care are critical to how we live a healthy and full life. As a community, having access to good quality mental health services is a basic part of how we thrive, as an inclusive place for all of us, so we can each reach our full potential. I’m inspired by The Royal’s work because now more than ever, it’s something we all need and can count on,” says Meredith.