Canadians across the country joined together on social media to text, talk and tweet about mental health for the fifth annual Bell Let’s Talk Day on January 28, 2015. The campaign broke last year’s record, reaching more than 122 million total interactions and raising more than $6 million for mental health research, programs and organizations across Canada. Bell’s annual campaign encourages people to “start the conversation” about mental health with friends, family and co-workers, recognizing that simply talking makes a significant impact in breaking down stigma and eliminating discrimination.
This year’s campaign focused on ways to help end stigma around mental illness, recognizing that many people experiencing poor mental health do not want to talk about it or seek the help they need because of the discrimination they experience on a daily basis.
CMHA Ontario Mental Health Works Manager Mark Henick spoke to the Business News Network about Bell Let’s Talk day and the importance of creating a psychologically healthy workplace.
“It depends on the baseline understanding [in the workplace] about mental illnesses,” Henick told BNN. “For some reason it’s seen as a vacation when you take time off to deal with your depression…that’s why we need to shift the culture in the workplace.”
CMHA Ontario was an active participant for Bell Let’s Talk Day on social media, engaging thousands of people on Facebook and Twitter in the conversation about mental health and stigma. In particular, our infographic around the impact of mental health was shared and commented on hundreds of times throughout the day:
Also, a number of our followers took the opportunity to reach out and share their appreciation for CMHA’s work:
This year I’m able to enjoy #BellLetsTalk knowing that @OHLHockey and @CMHAOntario have partnered. Great strides being made. — Shaun Bisson (@shaun_bisson) January 27, 2015
PEEPS! Go follow @CMHA_NTL @CMHAOntario and @CMHAToronto . They do great things for Mental Health Awareness! #BellLetsTaIk
— Emily Barrett (@barrettemily4) January 28, 2015
A massive thank you to @endstigma @CMHA_NTL @CMHAOntario for all you do! Inspiring. Changing lives everyday. #BeIILetsTalk #MentalHealth — Canadian_SW (@Canadian_SW) January 29, 2015
For more on the results of this year’s Bell Let’s Talk Day, visit the Bell Let’s Talk website.