#BellLetsTalk
Let's Talk
I wrote a blog about bravery yesterday, and another one about weathering storms. I’ve written about holding on through hard times, and I’ve written about my own struggles; illustrating that I know what it’s like to be in a dark place and feel completely alone. This entire blog, is reflective of my health journey; mental and physical. It’s about grief and loss. It’s about trauma; physical and psychological, and the resulting physiological and emotional responses to these events and experiences. It’s about struggle and fighting through it; to get to the other side of it, where I am comfortable talking about it and sharing my story with the masses. And, it’s about maybe reaching one other person, who is going through something similar; someone who is battling with anxiety, depression, chronic pain, PTSD, or loss and grief. It’s about how I’ve come through these things and what I’ve done along the way. And most of all, it’s about talking about these things, openly and without shame.
Ten years ago, Bell Canada launched a campaign to try to do the same; urge people to talk about mental health without shame and to help reduce the stigma. At that time, mental health wasn’t talked about as freely as it is today. A lot of people discount this campaign now, saying things like, “talk about it every day, not just once a year”; I’m guilty of having said the same once or twice, myself. But when I did, I wasn’t really thinking about the impact that they have had, or why the campaign was so important. That maybe, we’re talking about mental health more freely now BECAUSE of this campaign? That we’re reducing stigma associated with mental health issues and mental illness every day, with every person who shares their stories. Who likely wouldn’t have shared their stories so freely without campaigns like, “Bell Let’s Talk”, or movements like, “Me Too”. I know I wouldn’t have been so eager to share my story without so many others first, sharing theirs.
I agree that it’s important to talk about mental health every day. I also agree that it’s important to have campaigns like these, with a corporate backer who has access to the funding to reach so many more people, worldwide. I also now see how much good this campaign has done; reaching millions of people, and raising over 100 million dollars and partnering with over one thousand agencies. In one decade, they’ve supported over three and a half million people who might not have even come forward, let alone sought help, were it not for this campaign; were it not for other people sharing their stories. People like me, who have been through hell and back and survived. Sharing stories of the experiences they went through, the resulting emotional, physical and psychological responses. Sharing stories about those who reached into the dark void to help pull people like me out of that darkness. Sharing stories of survival; to show those who have lost hope, that there is always a light at the end of that proverbial tunnel, and that there is help available to them. Sharing stories about the light that guided them to safety, and about rebuilding their lives after the storm that nearly destroyed them. Sharing stories to open up the dialogue for others who need to hear that someone else has been through almost the same thing and survived. So that others could see that there are people who want to hear their stories, as well. Someone who, knows what it’s like to fall down the well and feel like they’re sinking; that they cannot see a light. Someone who knows that all it took for them to find this light, was for someone to reach out a hand to them, once. Someone who understands that, sometimes all it takes to save a life, is to say, “Let’s Talk”. Someone who is standing at the top of the well, illuminating the way out of the darkness, and waiting to be able to pull them out and say, “Let’s Talk”.
