How Saalvio puts together its research

What this research is, and what it is not

Saalvio's 2026 research is a synthesis. We collect figures from publicly available Canadian sources, place them next to each other, and write a plain-English picture of what they add up to. We do not collect original survey data, we do not run statistical tests of our own, and we do not commission original studies. Every figure on the synthesis page is somebody else's figure, properly attributed.

That choice is deliberate. Original data collection that meets a defensible standard is expensive and slow. The Canadian mental-health system already publishes a substantial body of public data: Statistics Canada, the Canadian Institute for Health Information, the Mental Health Commission of Canada, the Canadian Mental Health Association, the Wait Time Alliance, the Ontario Medical Association, the four Ontario regulatory colleges, Ontario Health, and the Ministry of Health. Putting those data points next to each other carefully is itself a useful thing. We do the careful part, name the sources, and let the figures speak.

This work is not peer-reviewed. We do not claim it is. It is a synthesis assembled by the Saalvio Editorial Team, reviewed for clinical accuracy by a member of the Saalvio clinical team, and published with every source attributed inline. Treat it as a starting point for further reading, not as the final word.

What counts as a source

A figure makes it onto a Saalvio research page when at least one of the following is true:

• It is published by a Government of Canada or Government of Ontario agency, including Statistics Canada, CIHI, Health Canada, Ontario Ministry of Health, Ontario Health, and Health Quality Ontario.
• It is published by an Ontario regulatory college whose public register is the authoritative count of practitioners in its profession: CRPO, OCSWSSW, College of Psychologists of Ontario, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.
• It is published by an established Canadian healthcare or mental-health advocacy organisation: the Mental Health Commission of Canada, the Canadian Mental Health Association, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), the Wait Time Alliance, the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association.
• It is published in a peer-reviewed journal indexed by PubMed or a comparable bibliographic database, with the citation given in full.
• It is published by the Ontario Medical Association or a comparable professional body in an official position document.

What does not count

• Sponsored content, including any Spotlight or branded-editorial format, regardless of how reputable the host outlet is. We disclose Saalvio's own use of the Village Media Spotlight format on the /press/ page; the same standard applies to sources we cite.
• Marketing material from competing platforms (self-reported outcomes, self-reported user counts, self-reported clinical efficacy), unless backed by a separately accessible peer-reviewed study.
• Single-author opinion writing without primary data.
• Non-Canadian data where a Canadian equivalent exists. We use international evidence (for example, the Carlbring et al. internet-CBT meta-analysis) only when it is the strongest available source on a specific question and a Canadian equivalent is not available at comparable rigour.
• Saalvio's own internal session data, until that data is large enough to be anonymised responsibly and reported in aggregate. The plan for when Saalvio data enters the research surface is described below.

How each figure is verified

Every figure on a Saalvio research page is checked against its named source before publication. Where possible, we cross-reference the same indicator against a second source from the list above. Where the data exists in only one place, we say so and flag the figure as single-source in the citation.

We name the reporting cycle. A figure from Statistics Canada's 2022 Mental Health and Access to Care Survey is reported as such, not as a present-tense fact. If the reporting cycle is refreshed between Wave 1 and Wave 2, the figure is updated and the change noted.

Where a source publishes a range rather than a single value, we report the range. Picking a midpoint and treating it as a measured value would misrepresent the underlying data.

A member of the Saalvio clinical team reviews every research page for clinical accuracy before it goes live. The reviewer is named at the top of the page along with their credentials and the date of review.

When Saalvio's own data enters the picture

Saalvio collects routine outcome and engagement data with informed client consent, the same way any responsible clinical service does. We do not publish that data today because we have not yet delivered a session volume large enough to aggregate without risking re-identification of an individual client.

When the clinical roster has delivered enough sessions across enough clients to permit responsible anonymisation, the Wave 2 update will include Saalvio's aggregate outcome figures. The threshold for "enough" is not a fixed number; it depends on how the data is sliced. As a planning anchor, we expect Wave 2 to publish in 2027.

When Saalvio data does appear, it will follow the same rules as every other figure on these pages: sourced, dated, qualified, paired with a public-data comparator where one exists, and reviewed by a clinician before publication.

Corrections

If a figure on a Saalvio research page has shifted in the most recent reporting cycle, or a source has retracted or replaced its number, write to [email protected]. We acknowledge corrections within one business day and publish a dated update on the affected page.

Material corrections are flagged on the page with the date and a one-sentence summary of what changed. Minor wording fixes (typos, link rot, broken citation anchors) are made silently.

Citing this work

Journalists, researchers, and partners are welcome to quote and link to anything on the research surface. The preferred citation form is:

Saalvio Editorial Team (2026). The state of online therapy in Ontario, 2026: a synthesis of publicly available Canadian mental-health data. Saalvio (Zen Mind Inc.). URL.

When a figure is drawn from this page, please cite the original primary source as well. The synthesis is meant to make the public data easier to read, not to displace it.