It's Bell Let's Talk Day, time to talk, text and join in on social media as Canadians everywhere share in the national conversation about mental health.
Here in Sudbury, there's a few events happening to mark Bell Let's Talk Day.
The Sudbury Wolves are launching the Wolves United fund to support local youth mental health programs through the United Way Sudbury and Nipissing Districts.
Cambrian College is also launching its Zen Den, a relaxed, calming “living room” space at Cambrian's library.
A press release from Bell said that by getting engaged, you're not only offering support to the millions of Canadians living with mental illness, you're also having a direct impact by driving Bell's donations to mental health programs all year round.
"Let's get talking Canada! The reality is that mental illness affects all of us – 1 in 5 directly, and 5 in 5 of us in some way every day with the impact of the disease on our family, friends, neighbours and work colleagues," said Olympic medallist Clara Hughes, the campaign's national spokesperson.
"But we can and we are making a difference. Start your own conversations today by talking about mental health with everyone you know, and join the millions of people in Canada and worldwide showing their support by making a call, sending a text or getting the word out on social media.
“Together, we all sent almost 126 million messages of support on Bell Let's Talk Day last year – and I know we can take our fight against the stigma even further this year!"
Bell will donate five cents to Canadian mental health programs for each of these interactions you make today, at no extra cost to you:
Every text message, mobile call and long distance call made by Bell Canada and Bell Aliant customers
Twitter: Every tweet using #BellLetsTalk – which now includes a Bell Let's Talk hashtag emoji
Facebook: Every view of the Bell Let's Talk Day video on Facebook.com/BellLetsTalk
Instagram: Every Instagram post using #BellLetsTalk
Snapchat: Every use of the Bell Let's Talk geofilter on Snapchat
Last year, the 125,915,295 interactions on Bell Let's Talk Day meant $6,295,764.75 in new Bell funding for Canadian mental health programs. #BellLetsTalk was the most used hashtag in the world on Bell Let's Talk Day 2016 and the #1 Twitter hashtag in Canada for all of 2016; #mentalhealth was also in the top 10, a clear indication that Canadians are talking about mental health all year long.
