- Clara Hughes and the Bell Let's
Talk team carried the mental health conversation across all media
platforms and to school assemblies and local events across
Canada
- #Bell Let's Talk was the #1 trend on Twitter in Canada and #1 worldwide with 4,775,708 tweets
- 58.3% more than last year
- Bell donates 5 cents for calls,
text, tweets and shares on each Bell Let's Talk Day - this year's
results grow Bell's total commitment to Canadian mental health to
$73,623,413.80
MONTREAL, Jan. 29, 2015 /CNW Telbec/ - Bell Let's Talk Day
2015 set new records as Canadians everywhere joined Clara Hughes and the Bell Let's Talk team in the
campaign that is sparking a worldwide conversation about mental
health.
A record 122,150,772 calls, tweets, texts, calls and shares on
Bell Let's Talk Day yesterday means Bell will donate a further
$6,107,538.60 to Canadian mental
health programs. With its original Bell Let's Talk donation of
$50 million in 2010 and the results
of the last 5 Bell Let's Talk Days, Bell has now committed
$73,623,413.80 to Canadian mental
health.
"Wow! Thank you everyone, everywhere! I am just in awe at your
incredible support for the people in our lives and all around us
who struggle with mental illness. You're part of the growing
conversation that will ultimately free Canada from the stigma that
surrounds mental illness," said Clara
Hughes, Canadian Olympian and Bell Let's Talk national
spokesperson. "We've made so much progress with Bell Let's Talk and
the mental health movement over the past 5 years. There's much more
to do to fight the stigma and help people get the help they need,
and I cannot thank you enough for taking the mental health
conversation further than ever before."
"Our most sincere thanks to Clara
Hughes and the entire Bell Let's Talk team, including
Michel Mpambara, Stefie Shock, Michael
Landsberg, Howie Mandel,
Mary Walsh, Kevin Breel, Shea
Emry, Andrew Jensen and
Robb Nash, for sharing their
personal stories and encouraging Canadians all around the country
to join the mental health conversation," said Mary Deacon, Chair of Bell Let's Talk. "With so
many individuals, government leaders, businesses and other
organizations actively joining in, we're truly on our way to
creating a stigma-free Canada."
"We know that mental illness touches all of us in some way, that
it has a powerful impact on individual lives, on families, on our
entire national economy. We're grateful that Canadians have
embraced the mental health cause, with a level of engagement in
this year's Bell Let's Talk Day and the anti-stigma message that
was truly remarkable," said George
Cope, President and Chief Executive Officer of Bell Canada and BCE. "As the top Twitter trend
on the planet, with messages of support and hope from people around
the globe, and the endorsement of international leaders and
celebrities, this year's Bell Let's Talk Day really showed that
there is universal desire for action in mental health. Once again,
Canada leads the way."
Bell Let's Talk Day 2015 resulted in a total of 122,150,772
interactions in the 28.5 hours between midnight Newfoundland time and midnight Pacific time, including tweets using
#BellLetsTalk, Facebook shares of the Bell Let's Talk image, and
text messages, mobile calls and long distance calls by Bell Canada and Bell Aliant customers - an 11.6
% increase over the 109,451,718 total interactions on Bell Let's
Talk Day last year.
#BellLetsTalk was the top Twitter trend yesterday in
Canada and worldwide (up from #3
worldwide last year), with #stopthestigma, #endthestigma,
#mentalhealthawareness and #sicknotweak trending throughout the
day. The 4,775,708 total tweets and retweets on Bell Let's Talk Day
2015 were 58.3% more than the 3,016,621 sent in 2014.
Support came from leaders such as Governor General David Johnston, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, leaders of Canada's political
parties and other members of Parliament, provincial and territorial
premiers and ministers, mayors and other civic leaders across
Canada, hospitals and universities, the Canadian Armed Forces,
police and fire departments, Olympians, professional sports teams
and players, major corporations and a broad range of the most
high-profile Canadian and U.S. entertainers and other celebrities
who drove hundreds of thousands of retweets from fans. To see these
conversations, please visit Bell.ca/LetsTalk.
Bell Let's Talk extends sincere thanks and appreciation to the
more than 200 Bell community and mental health partners, chambers
of commerce, and schools, colleges and universities across Canada
that joined the conversation through events, social media,
websites, and newsletters.
We also thank the many corporations, media, sports teams and
other organizations that helped promote the Bell Let's Talk
anti-stigma message:
- Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television
- AOL Canada
- Banff World Media Festival
- Basketball Canada
- Calgary Stampede
- Canadian Armed Forces
- Canadian Curling Association
- Canadian Film Centre
- Canadian Media Production Association
- Canadian Olympic Committee
- Canadian Paralympic Committee
- Canadian Soccer Association
- Caribbean Carnival Toronto Festival
- Cinémas Guzzo
- Cineplex
- Cogeco / MetroMedia
- Culture Days
- Facebook
- Festival d'été de Québec
- Festival International de Jazz de Montréal
- Francofolies
- Hot Docs
- The Globe and Mail
- Google
- Lamar Advertising
- La Presse / Gesca
- Mediacity
- Metronews
- MLSE - Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment
- Montréal Canadiens
- Montréal en Lumière
- Monster Media
- National Basketball Association Canada
- National Football League Canada
- National Newswatch
- National Post / Postmedia Network
- Ottawa Senators
- Outfront Media
- Pattison Outdoor
- Radio-Canada
- Rogers Communications
- TELUS
- Toronto International Film
Festival
- Toronto FC
- Toronto Maple Leafs
- Toronto Raptors
- Toronto Star / Torstar
- Twitter Canada
- Universal Music Canada
- Vancouver Whitecaps FC
- V Télé
- The Weather Network / Météomédia
- The Writers Guild of Canada
- Zoom Media
Bell Media marked Bell Let's Talk Day with more than 50 hours of
special mental health-themed programming aired across its
properties, including CTV, CTV Two, BNN, CP24, CTV News Channel,
Discovery, E!, M3, Much, MTV, RDS, Space, TSN, CraveTV, and
TheLoop.ca, as well as Bell Media digital, radio, and local TV
platforms throughout the day.
That includes CLARA'S BIG RIDE, a powerful documentary
chronicling Clara Hughes' epic
110-day bicycle journey to help build a Canada free of the stigma
of mental illness. Aired in primetime on CTV and CTV Two on Bell
Let's Talk Day, you can view CLARA'S BIG RIDE on CraveTV, CTV.ca
and CTV GO.
5 simple ways to help end the stigma
We can all help end the stigma around mental illness with these 5
simple ways, developed in partnership with Dr. Heather Stuart of Queen's University, the
world's first research chair in anti-stigma issues:
- Language matters - pay attention to the words you use about
mental illness
- Educate yourself - learn, know and talk more, understand the
signs
- Be kind - small acts of kindness say a lot
- Listen and ask - sometimes it's best to just listen
- Talk about it - start a dialogue, break the silence
The Bell Let's Talk mental health initiative
Bell Let's Talk promotes mental health based on 4 action pillars -
anti-stigma, care and access, research, and workplace best
practices. The initiative supports mental health leaders across the
country including the Royal Ottawa Hospital, Institut universitaire
en santé mentale de Montréal, Hôpital Charles-LeMoyne, Montreal Jewish Hospital, the Centre
for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), the University of British Columbia, the Douglas Mental
Health University Institute, Queen's University, La Fondation du
Centre hospitalier universitaire de Québec, Concordia University, Brain
Canada, Kids Help Phone, Sunnybrook Hospital, Université Laval
Foundation, CHU Sainte-Justine and, Vancouver General Hospital.
The annual Bell Let's Talk Community Fund supports front-line
mental health organizations in every region of the country. The
Fund has provided grants of $5,000 to
$50,000 to hundreds of community organizations focused on
improving access to programs and services that support people
living with mental health issues.
To learn more about Bell Let's Talk, please visit
Bell.ca/LetsTalk.
About Bell
Bell is Canada's largest communications company, providing
consumers and business customers with wireless, TV, Internet, home
phone and business communications services. Bell Media is Canada's
premier multimedia company with leading assets in television,
radio, out of home, and digital media. Bell is wholly owned by
Montréal's BCE Inc. (TSX, NYSE: BCE). For more information, please
visit Bell.ca
SOURCE Bell Canada