Expanding mental health support: New “À la carte” provider services now available for your plan

October 02, 2026

Mental health continues to be a top priority for employers. Employees face more complex needs and ongoing barriers to care, and plan sponsors are looking for ways to customize coverage that truly reflects their workforce. As a result, we’re expanding access to specialized mental health practitioners through new “À la carte” provider services. These are optional additions. You can add one or all providers to your Extended Health Care plan.

What’s new

We’re adding five new specialized practitioner options to your group benefits plan, giving you more flexibility to design mental health coverage that works for your employees:

  • Psychoeducators
  • Psychiatric Nurses
  • Behaviour Analysts
  • Vocational Guidance Counsellors
  • Sexologists

To activate these services for your plan members, you must choose to add them to your coverage. Once added, they will be seamlessly integrated into the my Sun Life mobile app and on mysunlife.ca.

Why this matters for your plan design

This expansion gives you the flexibility to:

  • Tailor coverage to your workforce: Add only the specialized services that match your employees’ needs and health priorities.
  • Remove barriers to care: Make these services easily accessible through a mobile-first platform so employees can get support when and where they need it.
  • Address evolving needs: As your workforce’s mental health needs change, you can adjust coverage without redesigning your entire plan.
  • Support a healthier workplace experience: Expanded mental health options can help demonstrate your commitment to employee well-being.

By expanding access to specialized mental health providers, we’re helping you build more flexible, responsive coverage for today’s workforce. It’s one more way we’re working with you to remove barriers to care and support workplace well-being.

Questions? We’re here to help.

For information regarding potential pricing implications or if you have any questions, please contact your Sun Life Group Benefits representative.