[Policy Paper] Strengthening Canada’s Health Care & Social Service Response to Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults

Social isolation and loneliness (SIL) among older adults is one of the most significant, and under addressed, public health challenges in Canada. The consequences are well-documented: increased risk of dementia, depression, cardiovascular disease, and early mortality. And yet, most health and social service professionals enter practice without the training, tools, or system supports to routinely address it.

CCSMH’s new research paper examines Canada’s current landscape, drawing on a scan of Canadian and international evidence, to identify where gaps exist and what a more coordinated national response could look like.

Key findings at a glance:

• Canada is uniquely positioned as the only country with clinical guidelines on SIL in older adults, but lacks the coordinated national infrastructure to disseminate and implement them consistently.
• SIL training in formal health and social service education remains uneven, often optional, and rarely embedded across professions.
• Countries making the most progress share a national vision, cross-sector governance, and investment in workforce training and infrastructure.
• Meaningful change can start at any level of the system, and does not require a single national mandate to begin.

The report’s Roadmap outlines eight knowledge-to-action pathways offering practical entry points for policymakers, educators, system leaders, and frontline professionals. Leading that list: advancing curriculum development.

Curriculum integration is one of the most concrete, actionable steps identified in the Roadmap. The evidence points to a consistent gap, most health and social service graduates enter practice without foundational SIL competency. Embedding this content into existing courses is feasible, evidence-informed, and doesn’t require program redesign. It’s one example of the kind of policy-enabled action the research paper invites.

This work builds directly on CCSMH’s 2024 Clinical Guidelines on Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults, the first and only of their kind in the world, and aligns with the World Health Organization’s 2025 call to recognize social connection as a core determinant of health.

Canada has strong clinical leadership and real innovation at the local level. What’s needed now is the connective infrastructure to scale and sustain it.