Tomorrow is a BIG day in the mental health fundraising world. It’s Bell Let’s Talk Day, a day where we don’t care about how sore our thumbs get because it’s so easy to help. For every tweet, post, use of a picture frame, snap, or text using #BellLetsTalk, Bell donates 5 cents towards mental health initiatives.
Since this day first came about 2011, the impact has been measurably huge. More than 867,449,649 interactions have raised over $93.4 Million, which has been donated to many causes that directly help our fellow humans – 6,313,777 humans to date, to be exact (you can find out where the funds go here).
More than 87% of people report they are more aware of mental health issues because of initiatives like this (and I want to sneak a little plug in here for Zach and his Zach Makes Tracks campaign too!). Bell runs a sleek fundraiser that also promotes using healthy language (instead of ‘schizo’, refer to a friend as a ‘person with schizophrenia”), they facilitate educating yourself, they talk about the dangers of stigma AND they help create ways to open up conversations with your loved ones if you’re noticing they’re not quite themselves.
How much easier can it get?! But is talking enough?
We’ve been talking now for many years about mental health, but it appears that we’re lagging behind in action to CHANGE how people suffering from mental health are treated. Long wait times, lack of education, lack of services and appropriate treatments that are accessible, and affordability are only a few of the roadblocks that keep people from getting the help they need. We need ACTION!
Tomorrow, Derek and I will be getting up really early to visit our friends at CAMH, the amazing hospital where I received my ECT and rTMS treatments when I’m not well. We’re going because they’re ready for ACTION and what a better day to create action that #BellLetsTalk day? I’m going because I believe it’s time to use my own experiences (good and bad) to do everything I can to see that CHANGE IS MADE. I’ll be joining my own life-saving doctor, Dr. Blumberger and Dr. Daskalakis at the Temerty Centre for Therapeutic Brain Intervention to talk about rTMS (Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation) with CP24 Breakfast crew.
So, when you’re sending your texts, posting your images and hash tagging #BellLetsTalk tomorrow, make sure you include the actions you believe we need to take. We’ve come so far, but we have a ways to go to make our mental health just as important as our physical health.
If you’d like to follow some incredible mental health advocates as they fight for change tomorrow on Twitter, here are a few powerhouses I adore:
Be kind!
Shelley
