- Get ready to talk, text and join in on social media to make
your voice heard – and help drive Bell's donations to mental health
programs
- Watch tonight's Etalk special with Alanis Morissette and discover mental health
documentary La santé mentale : une note à la fois
- Please visit Bell.ca/LetsTalk to learn more
MONTRÉAL, Jan. 27, 2021 /CNW
Telbec/ - Tomorrow is Bell Let's Talk Day 2021 and the ongoing
impacts of COVID-19 mean that now more than ever, every action
counts in moving Canada's mental health forward. We invite you to
join in the conversation to support those who struggle while also
driving Bell's donations to Canadian mental health simply by
talking, texting and participating on social media.
"The stress and uncertainty of COVID-19 has impacted all of us,
and the need for a heightened focus on the mental health of
Canadians is clear," said Mary
Deacon, Chair of Bell Let's Talk. "We're highlighting the
actions we can all take during these challenging times to stay
connected and enable better mental health for our families, friends
and colleagues. We invite you to share your ideas, join in virtual
events nationwide and make your voice heard on our 11th
annual Bell Let's Talk Day tomorrow!"
Here are some of the Bell Let's Talk Day events taking place
today and tomorrow:
CMHA Edmonton Virtual Distress Line
fundraiser
Beginning at 9am MT
today, this year's fundraiser features Dr. Lisa Belanger presenting her workshop Mental
Health: Creating Strong Agile Workplaces with resources and
programming ideas employers can implement to support their teams
and build mentally healthy workplaces. Proceeds from ticket sales
support CMHA Edmonton's Distress Line.
Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community
Services
Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community
Services will host a virtual gallery opening called Embroidered
Stories today beginning at 11am
ET. Showcasing traditional embroidered artwork of
Arabic-speaking refugee women that symbolizes their migration
journey to Canada, the interactive event will explore the benefits
of art therapy in supporting good mental health. Arabic
interpretation is available.
Canadian Olympic Committee documentary and
webinar
Game Plan, Canada's total athlete wellness program,
invites athletes and members of the sport community to an
exclusive viewing of the documentary The Weight of Gold, featuring
Olympic champion Kyle Shewfelt.
Beginning at 6pm ET tonight, the
event also features a webinar discussion about athlete mental
health led by Dr. Karen MacNeil, the
Canadian Olympic Committee's Lead Mental Performance and Mental
Health Consultant.
Protecting your mind: stories from Black tech
Bell and
the Black Professionals in Tech Network present a panel
discussion about the impact of COVID-19 and other challenges on the
mental health of Black people with panelists including members of
the Black Professionals at Bell network. The event takes place
tonight from 6:30pm to 8pm ET and all
are welcome to join.
Indigo on Instagram Live
At 7pm
ET tonight on Instagram Live, Meghan
Yuri Young, founder of the Sad Collective, will host a
discussion with Mark Henick about
his book So-Called Normal. Watch live on Instagram @Indigo.
Etalk Presents: Alanis
Morissette
Etalk's Traci Melchor sits down for an exclusive
interview with trailblazing artist Alanis Morissette tonight at 7pm ET on CTV. The Canadian icon opens up about
normalizing the mental health conversation, motherhood, her
generation-defining album Jagged Little Pill and much more.
In This Together: A Bell Let's Talk Day Special
On
Bell Let's Talk Day, Etalk's Tyrone
Edwards and The Social's Melissa
Grelo lead the mental health conversation as hosts of In
This Together: A Bell Let's Talk Day Special, premiering at
7pm ET/PT on CTV, CTV2 and Crave. The
special highlights Canadians and their mental health journeys
through a year of disruptions and unique challenges.
Crave highlights mental health
Crave's Mental Health
Awareness Collection showcases programming that explores mental
health issues, including HBO's Euphoria, I Know This Much Is True,
and I May Destroy You; Crave documentary Rat Park; Canadian
documentaries and films The Mind of GSP and The Grizzlies; and Bell
Media's original French-language productions Santé mentale : plus
fort ensemble and La détresse au bout du rang.
La santé mentale : une note à la
fois
Documentary La santé mentale : une note à
la fois follows the stories of musicians Steve Veilleux, Laurence
Jalbert and Safia Nolin, and
features slam poet David Goudreault.
Airing on Canal D, Canal Vie and VRAK, the documentary will also be
available at Noovo.ca, vrak.tv, Crave, CanalVie.com and
CanalD.com.
Kids Eat Smart Mental Health Breakfast
More than 2,400
students at junior high schools in Newfoundland and Labrador will receive a healthy breakfast in
their classroom on Bell Let's Talk Day to inspire a discussion
about youth mental health.
TIFF mental health programming
TIFF is adding a free
Bell Let's Talk Day collection to the digital TIFF Bell Lightbox.
The selection of short films exploring mental health will be
available from January 28 to February
4 and includes A Woman's Block; The Blind Stigma: Mental
Health within the Black Community; Point and Line to Plane; and The
Weight. TIFF will be hosting a digital conversation January 28 at 12pm
ET with writer-director Rebeccah
Love joining TIFF programmer Hoda
Ali to talk about Love's film A Woman's Block and the power
of cinema to spark action in mental health. The conversation will
be simulcast across TIFF's Facebook, Twitter and
YouTube channels.
Toronto Writers Collective event
Toronto Writers
Collective will offer free virtual creative writing workshops with
a focus on mental health and well-being. The volunteer-led
workshops are open to anyone looking for community and creativity,
no writing experience necessary. Workshops take place at
10am, 1:30pm and 7pm ET.
Online registration is required and space is limited.
Cleveland Clinic Canada Webinar
Cleveland Clinic Canada will offer a free webinar to Canadian
business leaders at 11am ET with a
focus on prioritizing workplace mental health while also discussing
the impact COVID-19 is having on the mental health of employees.
Hosted by Dr. Cathy (CJ) Campbell, the
expert panel will include Cleveland Clinic Canada CEO Mike Kessel, internal medicine physician Dr.
Jeff Alfonsi and psychiatrist Dr. Claire Harrigan.
Toronto Rehab and UHN host wellness webinar
Bell Let's
Talk partners Toronto Rehab and University Health Network are
hosting a Wellness Webinar for UHN staff at 12pm ET. Let's Talk Mental Health, Gratitude and
You features Cheryl Sutherland,
Founder of PleaseNotes Goods, and Toronto Rehab Psychologist Dr.
Martha McKay providing insights on
the mental health impacts of COVID-19, the importance of self-care
and available mental health resources.
Festival d'été de Québec
Le Festival d'été de Québec
invites everyone to its Bell Let's Talk Day virtual
events featuring psychologist Marc
Pistorio, financial advisor Michel-Olivier Marcoux, yoga teacher Myriam De
la Sablonnière as well Catherine
Paquin, Mathieu Dufour,
Claudia Bouvette and other
guests.
Virtual event for Government of Canada employees
The
Centre of Expertise on Mental Health in the Workplace, the Canada
School of Public Service and the Federal Youth Network will host a
virtual event open to all federal employees from 12:30pm to 2:30pm ET. Panelists include Bell
Let's Talk advisor and 2020 Champion of Mental Health Dr.
Christopher Mushquash, 2019/2020
Face of Mental Illness Onika Dainty, and Daniel Quan-Watson from Crown-Indigenous
Relations and Northern Affairs.
Patricia Lemoine at
Polytechnique Montréal
Friend of Bell Let's Talk Patricia
Lemoine will host a webinar at 12:30pm
ET for Polytechnique Montréal students about the day-to-day
importance of mental health for those in positions of
leadership.
Canadian Armed Forces join the conversation
The CAF
will conduct virtual mental health Q&A sessions and a panel
discussion between Defence Team members, senior leadership and
mental health experts across its social media channels, including
Instagram and Facebook. Deputy Minister Jody Thomas and Vice Chief of the Defence Staff
LGen Mike Rouleau, DND/CAF mental health co-champions, will host a
virtual coffee talk with Defence Team members via Zoom at
12:30pm ET.
Flag raisings will take place at select CAF locations across
Canada and internationally, including at CFB Halifax which will
livestream its Bell Let's Talk flag raising at 8am AT. Other CAF regional events include a
virtual event at 5th Canadian Division Support Base
Gagetown with local guest speakers; CFB Borden's discussion at
10am ET with retired NHL player and
mental health advocate Theo Fleury;
Montréal region chaplains are hosting Olympian Sylvie Bernier at
12pm ET for a discussion focused on
resiliency and mental health; and Military Family Resource Centre
(MFRC) Suffield's online event at 3pm
MT on Maintaining good mental health during COVID-19, a
discussion with Veterans and their spouses as well as MFRC's
National Program Manager Ghada
Makhlouf and Chief Psychiatrist Dr. Alexandra Heber.
Indigo mental health events
In partnership with
Indigo, Claire Zlobin, founder of
Life With A Baby and Olivia
Scobie, parental mental health counsellor, educator and
author of Impossible Parenting, will be hosting a virtual
conversation at 1pm ET about changing
the culture of unrealistic parenting expectations and creating a
new culture of mental health for parents.
Beginning at 5pm ET, parenting
author Ann Douglas will be in
conversation on @IndigoKids Instagram as she discusses her book
Parenting Through The Storm: How to Handle the Highs, the Lows and
Everything in Between.
Indigo will also be supporting the Canadian Mental Health
Association with a donation of $2 for
every copy of Grief & Loss & Love & Sex, Lara Margaret Marjerrison's powerful story of
grappling with her sister's death, sold in store and on indigo.ca
from January 28 to February 28,
2021.
Dr. Joti Samra and the
University of Guelph
The
University of Guelph is hosting an
event at 1:30pm ET for team members
with psychological health and safety expert Dr. Joti Samra. Participants will learn strategies
and actions they can take to support their own and their
colleagues' mental wellbeing.
Music NL's The Show Must Go On
Music NL is hosting
virtual event The Show Must Go On for their members from
7 to 8pm NT, featuring singer
songwriter Damhnait Doyle speaking about her lived experience
alongside representatives from CMHA Newfoundland and Labrador.
CMHA Champlain East virtual round table
Join CMHA
Champlain East beginning at 6:30pm ET
for a virtual round table conversation on mental health with
Executive Director Joanne
Ledoux-Moshonas and special guests including Bernadette Clement, Angele D'Alessio,
Mitch Dubeau, Chantal Larocque, Melanie Brulee, Ivan
Labelle and Stephen
Douris.
A Mental Health Talk with Creatives
DJ Starting from
Scratch will host a virtual conversation about mental health on
Twitch from 7pm to 9pm ET,
featuring discussions with Ellie K Borden, Mark Brand and Dillon
Casey about how artists, creatives and entrepreneurs can
cope with mental health impacts.
La Presse live discussion with Sonia
Lupien
Journalist Véronique Lauzon will host a
discussion in French about stress management with Sonia Lupien, director of the Centre for Studies
on Human Stress at the Institut universitaire en santé mentale de
Montréal and professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the
University of Montreal at 8pm ET live on lapresse.ca and on La Presse's
Facebook page.
Montréal Canadiens show their support
Canadiens
players and coaching staff will participate in Bell Let's Talk Day
on social media, and coaches will sport Bell Let's Talk pins when
the team faces off against the Calgary Flames at 7pm ET.
Notable landmarks to light up blue
The Toronto and Winnipeg signs, BC Place, High Level Bridge in
Edmonton, and the Lt. Governor's
Residence in St. John's will light
up blue to mark Bell Let's Talk Day.
University and college student engagement
The Bell
Let's Talk Campus Campaign will reach more than 200
universities and colleges throughout Canada. This year's campaign
features a digital toolkit to ensure post-secondary institutions
can safely engage students across the country. Schools will also
screen short films about mental health provided by the Au
Contraire Film Festival.
Bell Let's Talk flag raisings
Communities and
organizations around the country are showing their support for
mental health with Bell Let's Talk flag raisings, following earlier
ceremonies by the Borough of Verdun and the Douglas Foundation in Montréal,
RMC Kingston, the Service de police de la Ville de St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Central Memorial
Park in Calgary, the Hamilton
Bulldogs, the Ottawa Senators and
the City of Timmins.
Flag raisings scheduled for January
28
12 Wing Shearwater; CAMH; Canadian Armed Forces
Latvia; Cape Breton Regional Municipality; CFB Halifax; CFB
Valcartier; CFB Winnipeg; CFS Alert; the cities of Belleville, Brandon, Brockville, Cambridge Bay, Charlottetown, Churchill, Corner
Brook, Cornwall, Dauphin,
Dorval, Fredericton, Greater
Sudbury, Iqaluit,
Joliette, Kingston, La Pêche, Markham, Mississauga, Moncton, Montréal, Niagara Falls, North
Bay, Ormstown, Oshawa, Ottawa, Peterborough, Pickering, Québec, Regina, Saint-Donat, Saint John,
Sault Ste. Marie, St.John's,
Summerside, Thunder Bay, Toronto, Vaughan, and Whitehorse; Clara
Hughes Public School; Council of Yukon First Nations;
Direction de la police de Trois-Rivières; Durham Children's Aid
Foundation; École nationale de police du Québec; Government of
New Brunswick; Government of
Ontario (Solicitor General's
Office); Halifax Regional Municipality; HMCS Halifax (currently
deployed on Operation REASSURANCE); House of Assembly of
Newfoundland and Labrador; IUSMM – Fondation de l'Institut
universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal; USMQ – Fondation CERVO;
Kitchener Rangers; Le Massif de
Charlevoix; Legislative Assembly of Manitoba (Memorial Park); Niagara IceDogs;
Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences; Oshawa Generals;
Québec Association of Police Directors; RCMP A Division; RCMP B
Division; RCMP C Division; RCMP D Division; RCMP E Division; RCMP F
Division; RCMP G Division; RCMP H Division; RCMP K Division; RCMP L
Division; RCMP National Headquarters; RCMP O Division; RCMP Queens
District; Régie intermunicipale de police Richelieu-St-Laurent; Régie intermunicipale de police
Thérèse-De Blainville; RMC Saint-Jean; Service de police de la
Ville de Blainville; Service de
police de la Ville de Granby;
Service de police de la Ville de
Saint-Eustache; Service de police de Sherbrooke; Service de police de la
Ville de Terrebonne; Service de
police de la Ville de Lévis; SG 2 Cdn
Div Montréal Garrison; SG 2 Cdn Div
Saint-Jean Garrison; The Alex Community Health Centre; Toronto Police Service; Toronto Rock; the
towns of Hermitage-Sandyville, Huntsville, Torbay, and Whitby; William Osler Health System – Brampton
Civic Hospital, Etobicoke General Hospital and Peel Memorial Centre
for Integrated Health and Wellness; York Regional Police; Yukon
Legislative Assembly.
Flag raisings at post-secondary institutions
Cambrian
College; Cégep de Drummondville;
Cégep de Granby; Cégep de Jonquière; Cégep de Lévis; Cégep de
l'Outaouais; Cégep de Sainte-Foy;
Cégep de Saint-Jérôme; Cégep de Valleyfield; Cégep Édouard-Montpetit; Cégep
Gérald-Godin; Cégep Heritage; Cégep La Pocatière; Cégep
Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu; Collège
Ahuntsic; Collège Boréal; Collège communautaire de Campbellton; Collège de Technologie Forestière
des Maritimes;
Collège Laflèche; College of the Rockies; Collégial du Séminaire
de Sherbrooke; Concordia; University of Edmonton; Confederation College; Cumberland College; Grande
Prairie Regional College; Humber
College; John Abbott College;
Justice Institute of British
Columbia; Keyano College; King's University College;
Langara College; Marine Institute;
Mohawk College; Mount Royal University; Northern College; Olds
College; Parkland College; Providence University College; Redeemer University; Saint Paul University; Saskatchewan Institute
of Technologies; Saskatchewan Polytechnic; St.
Francis Xavier University; Trent
University; Université de Montréal; Université de
Saint-Boniface; Université du
Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue; University of
British Columbia Okanangan; University
of Regina; University of Sudbury; University of the Fraser Valley;
University of Waterloo; University of Winnipeg; Vancouver Island
University; Yukon University.
Here's how you can join the conversation
On Bell
Let's Talk Day, Bell donates 5 cents
to Canadian mental health programs for every applicable text, local
or long distance call, tweet or TikTok video using #BellLetsTalk,
every Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter and
YouTube view of the Bell Let's Talk Day video, and every use of the
Bell Let's Talk Facebook frame or Snapchat filter. All at no cost
to participants beyond what they would normally pay their service
provider for online or phone access.
Since the first Bell Let's Talk Day in 2011, Canadians and
people around the world have sent a total of more than 1.1 billion
messages of support for mental health, bringing Bell's total
funding commitment to $113,415,135.
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 September 2010, Bell Let's Talk has partnered
with more than 1,100 organizations providing mental health supports
and services throughout Canada, including hospitals, universities,
local community service providers and other care and research
organizations.
In March 2020, Bell
announced the extension of the Bell Let's Talk initiative for
another 5 years. Including the additional COVID-19 funding, Bell is
now targeting a total corporate donation of at least $155 million to Canadian mental health
programs. To learn more, please visit Bell.ca/LetsTalk.
Media inquiries:
Jacqueline
Michelis
613-785-1427
jacqueline.michelis@bell.ca
@Bell_LetsTalk
@Bell_News
SOURCE Bell Canada