Today, Feb 12 is Bell’s 3rd annual Let’s Talk about mental illness day. Being bipolar I’m quite interested about the initiative and have been tuning into CP24 and CTV news net throughout the day to see who and what they’re discussing.
I have to admit, I truly appreciate the effort made by Bell to dispel the stigma and myths attached to mental illness. The simple title of the campaign “Let’s Talk” is both powerful and poignant. Indeed, my life might have been very different if even my own family were able to talk about the mental illnesses that are inherited genetic traits in my family. Bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and depression afflict my maternal relatives, while addiction (e.g. alcohol/substance abuse, gambling) afflict my paternal relatives, yet nobody on either side feels comfortable discussing the subject and its made our lives worse than they need to be. I believe I could have been diagnosed a decade sooner than what I was if my family members hadn’t felt so ashamed or in complete denial.
How much time and quality of life have so many of my relatives lost due to shame and silence and stigma???
I truly hope that attitudes begin to shift and that the next generation of my family won’t have to go through what me and my predecessors went through.
So kudos to Bell. Let's Talk about mental illness!
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A quick follow up to this blog:
Bell's Let's Talk day fundraiser for mental health initiatives (in which they donated 5 cents for each text, long distance call or tweet) raised nearly $5million dollars through nearly 95million texts/calls/tweets sent. That's pretty sweet :)
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