Health

Twitter talks mental illness. Who’s listening?

Bob CollinsBob Collins Jan 28, 2015
8

On social media today, it’s Bell Let’s Talk Day, a promotion from the Bell Canada Company in which it agrees to donate 5 cents for every tweet with the hashtag #BellLetsTalk.

The goal is to get people talking about mental illness and eliminate what the company says is a stigma against it by virtue of the thought that mental illness is a character flaw, a weakness, if you will.

Good idea? Or marketing ploy?

Writer Ishmael Daro writes on Canada.com that it falls into the latter, and any benefit is still part of a marketing campaign.

To be clear, there is great value in rallying around the cause of mental health and allowing ourselves a day to reflect on the topic, even if that activity is sponsored by a corporate entity as foul as a telecommunications company. The conversations that flow from the Bell Let’s Talk campaign are still important and will hopefully continue beyond today, chipping away at the stigma associated with mental illness and letting people find the help and understanding they need.

But it’s also worth recognizing that Bell isn’t acting out of pure benevolence, and that spamming everyone you know with Bell’s messaging will not drastically increase the resources available to mental health professionals. In fact, today might be a great day to donate directly to a local clinic or support centre of your choice, in any amount that you see fit.

Nora Loreto, writing on HuffPo Canada, calls it a “cynical publicity stunt.” She says it allows leaders in Canada to embrace a concept — mental health care — while still actively working against policies that might help provide it.

We need progressive organizations to build off the publicity of Let’s Talk and call for a new day: Let’s Act. When it feels like the snow will never melt and spring will never come, let’s commit ourselves to act.

Let’s Act and demand more funding to mental health supports, including the improved public funding of mental health doctors, treatments and facilities.

Let’s Act and reject Stephen Harper’s attempt to criminalize people with mental health struggles: help and rehabilitation rather than solitary confinement and life-long prison sentences.

Let’s Act and share our struggles, share our solutions and give each other the strength we need to improve our personal situations.

In 2008, I struggled with an intense year of work-place depression. I would cry randomly every night. I felt as if the world was turning and it left me behind. I developed phobias that remain with me until today.

In a rebuttal, however, author Terezia Farkas says the campaign offers “hope.”

Farkas, who suffers from depression, says she initially hated the idea.

It gives you a chance to take off your mask and talk about your pain. It allows you to mourn the loss of who you were and to say, “It’s okay I’m like this now.” It cracks open the darkness for a minute and gives you hope by letting you realize there are people who’ve made it out to the other side.

The last tweet references Rick Rypien, an NHL player who couldn’t beat depression.

Does having a more open discussion help? It did for a woman named Christine, who says the discussion surrounding Rypien’s illness saved her life. Good idea? Or marketing ploy?