Why I Resent Bell #LetsTalk and How I can do My Part, No Donation Needed
Do you want to "end the stigma" of talking about mental health? Do you want to put an end to the many people who struggle with mental health issues feeling hopeless, helpless, and a burden to the people they love?
Then stop trying to profit and advertise off of it.
Bell Canada's awareness campaign is supposed to raise money towards "mental health in Canada", and "driving action in mental health care, research, and the workplace". I'm not exactly sure where a cheque is cashed when it's made out to "MENTAL HEALTH", but I digress.
There is plenty, up to date research being done on the science of mental health and mental illness. I personally own a number of self-help books, workbooks; I've subscribed to articles, apps, and the like that have all been researched and backed by references upon references of research done from the philosophers from centuries ago to the medical community today. But all of it would be useless if one didn't have resources and a support system -- something everyone should have no matter what the circumstance.
Workplaces all range in amount of accessible resources between private and public sectors, and even broken up per department in each company, for mental health initiatives. That money that's being raised isn't going into every company across Canada in the hopes that they will setup a mental health awareness program or support system. Absolutely awareness needs to be raised within everyone's workplace, but the money specifically being raised by Bell Canada on their #LetsTalk Day is probably not going to the generic workplace.
What needs to be broadcasted, along with the fact that you are not alone, are resources that are available for everyone. So, I am going to broadcast the resources I know about without making you "donate to the cause" (if you want to send me money because you love me, that's different).
Local Mental Health Crisis Centres
These are a thing. I didn't know they were a thing. I thought that when I finally snapped, I would have to go to the Emergency room at my local hospital, wait for eight hours, possibly get a psychiatric evaluation done within 90 minutes, and then be sent home with a note of "a psychiatrist will be in touch with you in the next six to twelve months regarding your results" (no joke, that's the current wait time to see a psychiatrist through the hospital system in Southwestern Ontario).
Instead, the Crisis Centre was able to give me a professional social worker or occupational therapist to sit with for at least an hour to help "ground me" (when in mental health crisis, you often need assistance calming down), talk things over with me, and offer me resources of both group and individual therapy options. I only had to wait twenty minutes.
Talk. To. Your. Family. Doctor.
Your general practitioner (GP), family doctor, or whoever you call them, is so much more than just a resource for physical ailments. They can work with you and help you with referrals to psychiatrists, psychologists, and the like, and can help if they (or you) believe that medication intervention could also be helpful.
Talk to family and friends for recommendations or referrals
Do not use your friends and family as a replacement for a proper therapist if you need one. You want the stigma to end about mental health? You need to talk about it, so why not talk to the people you care about and who you know care about you. If you know someone who attends therapy, or maybe someone has a contact (either personal or professional) in the profession, ask them if they would be comfortable asking for referrals to therapists on your behalf. You probably won't start seeing the same therapist as your sister or best friend attends, or the direct contact your parents have in their social group, but those therapists also have a network of therapists who could potentially take you on.
These therapists could also recommend workbooks or self-help books that they found particularly helpful and accurate if you are a comfortable self-starter who wants to try and work on it on your own while you seek a therapist to work with. Something to give you some direction on how to get started. Your friends might have bookshelves of this stuff, too (I know I do—hit me up if you want a recommendation).
Or, if you're comfortable searching on your own:
PsychologyToday.com
This website holds a database of hundreds of therapists of a variety of designations/ certifications (all verified) and specialties. You can search for professionals in your area based on your postal code, then filter the search based on issue specializations, types of therapy they practice, and even what insurance company has verified they are covered with.
Finding the right resources for you will take time. The first therapist you see might not be the right fit for you, and that's okay. You will go through interviews or dates with each therapist in order to see if you mesh well together. Because if you don't mesh, you're only wasting your time and theirs because you won't open up properly, and in turn they won't be able to help you properly.
As an end note, if you really want to end the stigma of mental health, you need to start by talking about it with people who have it. Connect with your sibling, parent, aunt, uncle, long lost cousin, best friend from high school. Someone you know struggles as well. Learn from them. Converse about the struggle and how resources help or don't help. That is the only way you can work towards understanding and ending the stigma. Not by donating money to "mental health".
Then stop trying to profit and advertise off of it.
Bell Canada's awareness campaign is supposed to raise money towards "mental health in Canada", and "driving action in mental health care, research, and the workplace". I'm not exactly sure where a cheque is cashed when it's made out to "MENTAL HEALTH", but I digress.
There is plenty, up to date research being done on the science of mental health and mental illness. I personally own a number of self-help books, workbooks; I've subscribed to articles, apps, and the like that have all been researched and backed by references upon references of research done from the philosophers from centuries ago to the medical community today. But all of it would be useless if one didn't have resources and a support system -- something everyone should have no matter what the circumstance.
Workplaces all range in amount of accessible resources between private and public sectors, and even broken up per department in each company, for mental health initiatives. That money that's being raised isn't going into every company across Canada in the hopes that they will setup a mental health awareness program or support system. Absolutely awareness needs to be raised within everyone's workplace, but the money specifically being raised by Bell Canada on their #LetsTalk Day is probably not going to the generic workplace.
What needs to be broadcasted, along with the fact that you are not alone, are resources that are available for everyone. So, I am going to broadcast the resources I know about without making you "donate to the cause" (if you want to send me money because you love me, that's different).
Local Mental Health Crisis Centres
These are a thing. I didn't know they were a thing. I thought that when I finally snapped, I would have to go to the Emergency room at my local hospital, wait for eight hours, possibly get a psychiatric evaluation done within 90 minutes, and then be sent home with a note of "a psychiatrist will be in touch with you in the next six to twelve months regarding your results" (no joke, that's the current wait time to see a psychiatrist through the hospital system in Southwestern Ontario).
Instead, the Crisis Centre was able to give me a professional social worker or occupational therapist to sit with for at least an hour to help "ground me" (when in mental health crisis, you often need assistance calming down), talk things over with me, and offer me resources of both group and individual therapy options. I only had to wait twenty minutes.
Talk. To. Your. Family. Doctor.
Your general practitioner (GP), family doctor, or whoever you call them, is so much more than just a resource for physical ailments. They can work with you and help you with referrals to psychiatrists, psychologists, and the like, and can help if they (or you) believe that medication intervention could also be helpful.
Talk to family and friends for recommendations or referrals
Do not use your friends and family as a replacement for a proper therapist if you need one. You want the stigma to end about mental health? You need to talk about it, so why not talk to the people you care about and who you know care about you. If you know someone who attends therapy, or maybe someone has a contact (either personal or professional) in the profession, ask them if they would be comfortable asking for referrals to therapists on your behalf. You probably won't start seeing the same therapist as your sister or best friend attends, or the direct contact your parents have in their social group, but those therapists also have a network of therapists who could potentially take you on.
These therapists could also recommend workbooks or self-help books that they found particularly helpful and accurate if you are a comfortable self-starter who wants to try and work on it on your own while you seek a therapist to work with. Something to give you some direction on how to get started. Your friends might have bookshelves of this stuff, too (I know I do—hit me up if you want a recommendation).
Or, if you're comfortable searching on your own:
PsychologyToday.com
This website holds a database of hundreds of therapists of a variety of designations/ certifications (all verified) and specialties. You can search for professionals in your area based on your postal code, then filter the search based on issue specializations, types of therapy they practice, and even what insurance company has verified they are covered with.
Finding the right resources for you will take time. The first therapist you see might not be the right fit for you, and that's okay. You will go through interviews or dates with each therapist in order to see if you mesh well together. Because if you don't mesh, you're only wasting your time and theirs because you won't open up properly, and in turn they won't be able to help you properly.
As an end note, if you really want to end the stigma of mental health, you need to start by talking about it with people who have it. Connect with your sibling, parent, aunt, uncle, long lost cousin, best friend from high school. Someone you know struggles as well. Learn from them. Converse about the struggle and how resources help or don't help. That is the only way you can work towards understanding and ending the stigma. Not by donating money to "mental health".
Love this. Well said.
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