Supporting mental health initiatives is the name of the game during Bell Let’s Talk Day on Wednesday.
Bell will donate five cents for every text, call or social media interaction supporting mental health programs.
Spokesperson Andrea Paquette has five tips for people on how to deal with those suffering from mental illness.
“Be careful about the words that we use because language is really important and not to be stigmatizing anybody with mental illness. It’s really good if we educate ourselves on mental illness especially when it comes to being kind and listening to each other and just to talk about it.”
One of the major mental health advocates who has gotten behind the campaign since it began in 2011 is Canadian Olympic champion Clara Hughes.
Paquette adds the athlete’s public battle with mental illness forced her to step away a little too soon.
“She had to retire from her sport because of depression and she came back with a vengeance in 2015 and did Clara’s Big Ride with Bell and she not only biked across Canada for mental health awareness but she biked through Canada including the north.”
Bell began the program in 2011 and hopes to reach the 100 million dollar fundraising mark by 2020.