- Donations to address urgent need for increased resources with
support for Canadian Red Cross, Canadian Mental Health Association,
Kids Help Phone, Revivre and Strongest Families Institute
- Red Cross, CMHA and Revivre to enhance service delivery on the
front lines of our communities; Kids Help Phone and Strongest
Families employing multiple communications platforms to support
youth and families in a time of physical and social distancing
- Bell Let's Talk funding commitment increased by $5 million in response to COVID-19 crisis
MONTRÉAL, March 26, 2020 /CNW
Telbec/ - Bell Let's Talk today announced a special program to
support 5 organizations delivering mental health support on the
front lines of Canadian communities and to kids and families with
remote tools in a time of social distancing.
Part of a $5 million increase in
Bell Let's Talk funding in response to COVID-19, donations to
Canadian Red Cross, Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), Kids
Help Phone, Revivre and Strongest Families Institute are
enabling them to enhance their efforts to support Canadians
confronting isolation, anxiety and other challenges during the
crisis.
"The biggest public health crisis in a lifetime, COVID-19
demands an unprecedented response across every part of Canadian
society, including finding new ways to accelerate the delivery of
mental health services in such a challenging time," said
Mirko Bibic, President and CEO of
BCE Inc. and Bell Canada. "We've
increased Bell Let's Talk funding by $5
million in direct response to the COVID-19 crisis, and are
proud to be working with the Red Cross, CMHA, Kids Help Phone,
Revivre and Strongest Families to immediately direct new mental
health resources where they're needed most."
Community response
- Experts in helping communities cope with crisis situations, the
Red Cross is providing mental health and psychosocial support by
phone, including referrals for available specialized care, and
working with other first responders to support those in self
isolation.
- CMHA, with its regional and local branches that are on the
front line of community mental health care, is working to adapt
programming and services to virtual settings and to scale up
existing virtual programs nationally.
- Revivre is dedicated to helping people throughout Québec regain
control over their mental health, and is implementing new
strategies for virtual support programs for anxiety and
depression.
Youth and families
- Kids Help Phone is ramping up the capacity of its Crisis
Text Line powered by Kids Help Phone, including recruiting and
training responders, and developing new COVID-specific digital
content for youth and parents.
- Strongest Families Institute is building out technological and
human resources capacity to meet growing demand for its services,
including hiring and training more coaches and launching a secure
mobile connection to increase connectivity with clients.
"These organizations are all leaders in their fields with
effective, evidence-based programming that is already making a
difference for Canadians. As the COVID-19 crisis continues, they
are all well placed to meet the growing demand from Canadians
everywhere for mental health support," said Mary Deacon, Chair of Bell Let's Talk. "We are
proud to help ensure the Red Cross, CMHA, Kids Help Phone, Revivre
and Strongest Families Institute have added capacity in place to
deliver their vital services as we all face the challenges of
COVID-19."
Bell recently announced the extension of the Bell Let's Talk
initiative for a further 5 years and an increase in total Bell
funding for mental health to $150
million by 2025. With the $5
million announced today in response to the COVID-19 crisis,
total Bell Let's Talk funding grows to $155
million.
Canadian Red Cross
"The support provided today from
Bell Let's Talk comes at an essential time when Canadian Red Cross
is not only responding to needs emerging across the country as a
result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also preparing for the
possibility of floods, wildfires and other disasters that may
affect families and communities in the weeks and months ahead,"
said Conrad Sauvé, President and CEO, Canadian Red Cross.
"In addition to providing comfort and care to those in need, the
Red Cross also helps provide vital psychosocial support to people
as they cope during challenging times, such as these."
Canadian Mental Health Association - CMHA
"For over
100 years, CMHA has been proud to support Canadians' mental health
in their time of need. This generous support from Bell Let's Talk
will enable us to adapt essential community-level programs,
services and supports to provide creative, responsive and vital
resources in this trying time," said Margaret Eaton, national CEO, CMHA. "We may be
keeping ourselves at a distance from each other right now – but we
need each other more than ever. Thank you, Bell Let's Talk."
Kids Help Phone
"We are grateful to Bell for their
leadership in inciting critical conversations about mental health
and well-being, especially during this unprecedented time," said
Katherine Hay, President and CEO,
Kids Help Phone. "This support ensures Kids Help Phone can respond
to the record surge in the demand for our virtual services
providing immediate access to Crisis Responders and counsellors. We
are open on the frontlines 24/7. This is what Kids Help Phone was
built for, with thanks to Bell as our Founding Partner."
Revivre
"This donation from Bell Let's Talk will make
it possible to offer our J'avance! workshops in an urgently needed
virtual format, providing quick help to thousands of Quebecers
living with anxiety, depression or bipolar disorder," said
Jean-Rémy Provost, Executive Director of Revivre. "This kind of
immediate help in response to the COVID-19 crisis is extremely
welcome as we work to support our clients as quickly as possible,
including in online group workshops."
Strongest Families Institute
"Strongest Families
Institute is grateful to Bell Let's Talk for its generous gift. Our
distance services remain available to help children, youth, adults
and families who are struggling with mental health problems such as
anxiety, depression and behavioural challenges. This funding will
increase our telephone support work force, including help for those
in rural or under-resourced communities and fund enhancements to
process increased demands for service," said Dr. Patricia Lingley-Pottie, President and CEO,
Strongest Families Institute. "With this donation we can help more
Canadians, promote good mental health and equip people with
valuable skills to improve quality of life during these challenging
times."
About Bell Let's Talk
The largest-ever corporate
commitment to mental health in Canada, Bell Let's Talk is focused on 4 key
action pillars – Anti-stigma, Care and Access, Research and
Workplace Leadership. Since its launch in 2010, Bell Let's Talk has
partnered with more than 1,000 organizations providing mental
health services throughout Canada, including hospitals,
universities, local community service providers and other care and
research organizations.
To learn more about Bell Let's Talk, please visit
Bell.ca/LetsTalk.
About Bell
Bell is Canada's largest communications
company, providing advanced broadband wireless, TV, Internet and
business communication services throughout the country. Bell Media
is Canada's premier content creation company with leading assets in
television, radio, out of home and digital media. Founded in
Montréal in 1880, Bell is wholly owned by BCE Inc. (TSX, NYSE:
BCE). To learn more, please visit Bell.ca or BCE.ca.
Media inquiries
Jacqueline Michelis
Bell
613-785-1427
jacqueline.michelis@bell.ca
@Bell_LetsTalk
@Bell_News
Katherine Janson
Canadian Mental Health Association, National
647-717-8674
kjanson@cmha.ca
Canadian Red Cross
877-599-9602
Lindsey Coulter
Kids Help Phone
647-390-4841
lindsey.coulter@kidshelpphone.ca
Jean-Rémy Provost
Revivre
514-973-3040
jean-remy.provost@revivre.org
Theresa Cunningham
Strongest Families Institute
902-237-7700
tcunningham@strongestfamilies.com
SOURCE Bell Canada