Bell Let’s Talk January 26: Supporting Ourselves and Each Other

This January 26th, 2022 is Bell Let’s Talk day; this reminder early in the year encourages us to open up about our experiences and to come together to learn better ways of coping and thriving.

Every year since 2011, Bell has spread the word about improving mental health.

Mental health affects all of us – and it isn’t something that should be taboo to talk about.

The following statistics from the Toronto-based Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) shed some light on the issue of Mental Health in Canada:

In any given year, 1 in 5 Canadians experience a mental illness or addiction problem
By the time Canadians reach 40, 1 in 2 have — or have had — a mental illness.
70% of mental health problems have their onset in childhood or adolescence
Young people 15 to 24 more likely to experience mental illness
Men have higher rates of addiction than women, and women have higher rates of mood/anxiety disorders than men
Canadians in the lowest income group are 3-4x more likely than those in the highest income groups to report poor to fair mental health

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has made things worse for many of us. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Backs in Action has furthered its efforts, to provide free mental health resources to everyone. Early in the pandemic, we produced a series of videos by Clinical Counsellor Veera Grewal and began to offer all of our counselling services virtually to accommodate people’s schedules and to promote safety and comfort when sharing.

Check out our additional mental health blogs HERE.

How Can You Help Someone Who Is Struggling?

Often, being there to listen is often enough. If it feels authentic to you, phrases similar to the following can be helpful: “That sounds really hard. Thank you for trusting me to talk about this. I can’t fully understand, but I’m here for you. Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.”

Aim to be a calming influence, not to insist or project. Often it is enough to be seen and heard in one’s entirety.

Here is an article from Medium.com on how to hold space for another person in your life who may be struggling:

How to Hold Space for Someone the Right Way

What Doesn’t Help

giving uninformed or unsolicited medical advice
contributing to public discourse on suicide
too much talk, not enough action
telling us to “put things in perspective”
not checking your performative empathy

How Can You Help the Cause?

Bell has pledged to donate 5 cents for each text, call, tweet or TikTok video where the hashtag #BellLetsTalk is incorporated. If you’re involved in social media (as most of us are nowadays) this can be an easy way to both help spread awareness and donate to the cause. Options to help this Bell Let’s Talk Day are available for all of the following platforms:

Facebook – Instagram – LinkedIn – Pinterest – Snapchat – TikTok – Twitter – YouTube

If you are a Bell customer, you can also make phone calls and have Bell donate 5 cents per call or text that day.