It’s clear that for many mental health disorders, the longer the illness remains untreated, the worse the outcome for the patient. So how can we go about reducing the burden of mental illness in society? At a recent congress we sat down with Roger McIntyre, Professor of Psychiatry and Pharmacology at the University of Toronto, to talk about what he thinks will be biggest challenges in mental health in Canada in the years ahead. Here he shares his insights on what he sees as the two major priorities for Canada: access to care and closing the implementation gap.