Bell Let's Talk: Raising funds and destigmatizing mental health

As the global pandemic enters its third year, initiatives like Bell Let's Talk Day aims to help people of all backgrounds and age groups struggling with the mental health, especially amid the impact of COVID-19.

Now in its 12th year, Bell Let’s Talk Day on Jan. 26 hopes to raise both awareness and money for mental health, with the goal of eliminating the stigma around mental illness, supporting organizations across Canada to help improve mental health care access, and funding research that could one day offer promising treatments.

Bell will donate five cents for every call or text message by a Bell customer, #BellLetsTalk hashtag used on Twitter and TikTok, or view of the Bell Let’s Talk Day video on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube.

Last year, more than 159.17 million messages and interactions were made, with Bell donating roughly $7.96 million towards mental health initiatives in Canada. Bell has made a total funding commitment of at least $155 million for Canadian mental health.

Hundreds of Canadians died from drugs and alcohol-related causes during the pandemic than before, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada. Two in three Canadians believe the current mental health of Canadians is much worse now than it was prior to the pandemic, according to polling data from last year, with half the respondents worried about access to mental health care. Meanwhile, more doctors sought medical help for burnout and substance abuse during the first year of the pandemic, according to a new study that looked at anonymous data collected through an Ontario database.