January 29 was Bell Let’s Talk Day.
Canadians and people around the world joined in to help create positive change for people living with mental health issues. With the help of so many, Bell will donate more to Canadian mental health initiatives.
This year’s Bell Let’s Talk was the biggest yet. Read on:
Bell Let’s Talk release– Montréal, Thursday, January 30, 2020
•Mental Health: Every Action Counts was the theme of the world’s biggest mental health conversation on the 10th anniversary Bell Let’s Talk Day
•Total communications, including talk, text and engagement on social with Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube, increased 6.2% from 2019 to 154,387,425
•#BellLetsTalk was once again the top Twitter trend in Canada and worldwide
•Bell’s donation of 5 cents for each communication means another $7,719,371.25 for Canadian mental health – bringing Bell’s total funding commitment to $108,415,135
Canadians and people around the world took the theme of Bell Let’s Talk Day 2020 – Mental Health: Every Action Counts – to heart, sharing a record 154,387,425 messages of support for mental health on Bell Let’s Talk Day and driving $7,719,371.25 in new mental health funding by Bell.
“An amazing outcome for our 10th anniversary Bell Let’s Talk Day as the mental health message resonated like never before,” said Mirko Bibic, President and CEO of Bell Canada and BCE. “With record numbers of Bell Let’s Talk Day messages and the countless activities supporting mental health in every region of the country yesterday, Canadians took action to show they want everyone who lives with mental illness to get the help they need. Thank you everyone for your truly inspiring support for progress in mental health.”
“My thanks to everyone for answering the Bell Let’s Talk Day call to action and joining together to talk about all the ways we’ll make a real difference for everyone affected by mental illness,” said Mary Deacon, Chair of Bell Let’s Talk. “We’ve made incredible progress in increasing awareness and acceptance of mental health issues, and now we’re making every action count. I invite you to learn more about the actions large and small you can take to create positive change for people living with mental illness.”
Between midnight in Newfoundland and Labrador and midnight Pacific time, there were 154,387,425 eligible Bell Let’s Talk interactions, an increase of more than 6% over last year. Eligible interactions included Bell mobile calls, long-distance calls and texts as well as tweets, retweets, filters, frames and video views on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube – all at no charge to participants beyond what they would normally pay their provider for phone or online access.
Social media influencers embracing action
Social media engagement on Bell Let’s Talk Day reached 29,041,988 interactions yesterday, with #BellLetsTalk once again the top Twitter trend in Canada and worldwide.
Messages of support came from leaders and influencers in Canada and worldwide, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, federal, provincial and territorial leaders across all parties, local leaders, sports teams, associations and athletes, government departments, the Canadian Armed Forces and Royal Canadian Mounted Police, major Canadian corporations, healthcare leaders, unions, students and educators, entertainers and celebrities from around the world, as well as hundreds of Bell Let’s Talk partners throughout the country. Please visit Bell.ca/LetsTalk to see highlights.
Bell Let’s Talk Day events across Canada
Canadians took part in events in every corner of the country to mark Bell Let’s Talk Day, with Bell Let’s Talk spokespeople, ambassadors and the Friends of Bell Let’s Talk joining in to share their messages of hope and recovery. Students at 231 universities and colleges talked about campus mental health and learned more about supports available to them at more than 550 events. And the Bell Let’s Talk flag was raised by communities and partners all around Canada and the world, from Canadian Forces Station Alert near the North Pole to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, and by Canadian troops serving overseas.
We thank our amazing Bell Let’s Talk spokespeople Clara Hughes, Michael Landsberg, Howie Mandel, Mary Walsh, Stefie Shock, Michel Mpambara, Marie-Soleil Dion and Étienne Boulay, and community ambassadors pro golfer Andrew Jensen, CFL veteran Shea Emry, Veteran Bruno Guévremont, actress Jessica Holmes, musician Florence K and actress Véronique Bannon for continuing to share their personal stories with all Canadians.
New Bell Let’s Talk projects
In the lead up to Bell Let’s Talk Day 2020 more than $1.3 million in new funding for mental health projects was announced:
•A joint $500,000 donation with the Government of the Northwest Territories and Northwestel to provide mental health services for children, youth and families in the North through Strongest Families Institute, a Bell Let’s Talk partner that also serves the Atlantic provinces and Manitoba.
•A $420,000 donation to William Osler Health Foundation to support a new repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) Clinic at Osler’s Brampton Civic Hospital.
•A joint $300,000 donation to Fondation ma vie for the refurbishment of psychiatric departments at 3 hospitals in Saguenay ‒ Lac-Saint-Jean.
•A $110,000 donation to the Peguis Foundation and SunLodge Village to support a land-based traditional wellness program for at-risk youth in Peguis First Nation, Manitoba.
The Bell Let’s Talk Community Fund
The $2 million Bell Let’s Talk Community Fund, which supports local mental health charities throughout Canada, is open for applications. Registered charities are invited to apply for a grant up to $25,000. Since 2011, the Bell Let’s Talk Community Fund has supported more than 650 local and grassroots mental health organizations all across the country.
The 2020 application period is open until March 16 and all 2020 Community Fund grants will be disbursed before December 31, 2020. To apply for funding, please visit Bell.ca/LetsTalk.
Watch Bell Media specials about mental health
Awareness, Acceptance, and Action: A Bell Let’s Talk Day Special, hosted by The Social’s Marci Ien and Your Morning’s Anne-Marie Mediwake aired in prime time last night on CTV and CTV2, and is now available on CTV.ca, the CTV app and on Crave where viewers can watch previous Bell Let’s Talk Day specials.
The Francophone mental health documentary Stronger Together highlighting the family and friends of people struggling with mental health issues and featuring Michel Charette dealing with parents who had severe anxiety issues and reaching out to people who became family caregivers, aired last night on RDS, Vie, D, Z and on Crave. The special is now available to stream on VRAK.tv, RDS.ca, Canal Vie, Z and Canal D.
To learn more about Bell Let’s Talk, please visit Bell.ca/LetsTalk.