It’s that time of year again. Mental illnesses are being oddly romanticized on social media. If you don’t post, you don’t care about mental health or your friends or your friends’ mental health. But if you do post, you’re “looking for attention”, or doing it for the wrong reasons. There’s really no winning.
At least that’s how it comes across. BellLetsTalk day comes with a lot of praise and criticism. For those who might not know, Bell Mobility, a major cell provider company in Canada, create #BellLetsTalk day to help break the stigma surrounding mental illness. By posting on social media on Bell Let’s Talk day, you’re helping the company pledge money to mental health initiatives across the country.
The first few years were met with huge praise. Finally, someone is making a huge movement, a step in the right direction for the mental health community (which is everyone, btw). Lately, the day has been met with criticism. People are claiming Bell is doing it for the wrong reasons. “It’s all self-serving, they don’t really care about our mental health.”
This is usually backed up by some very valid stories of Bell and other major companies working their employees to the brink, causing, then not caring, about their mental health. If they can’t be supportive of what goes on right in their front yard, why are they taking it to the next level?
I wish I had some opinion-changing, news-worthy, info to share to help sway you one way or the other. But I’ve got nothing. The best I can do is share my opinion. Unless Bell comes out with something groundbreaking by next year, this is all we’ve got.
I think “breaking the stigma” is reason enough to support this movement. Sure, it’s a well-orchestrated PR strategy. Businesses need to make money to survive, and they need to survive so we all have jobs, places to live, buy our food, shop, etc.
Just because it’s self-serving and makes Bell look good, doesn’t mean it needs to be boycotted if the message is still in the right place.
The stigma around mental health is real and detrimental. Just because someone struggles with a mental illness doesn’t mean they’re incapable or less than. Equal to if someone is physically sick. At the end of the day, if Bell gets people moving in the right direction, then so be it! I think it’s important that we all remember to keep this conversation going not just on one day of the year.
If you truly believe in the message, it’s important to keep it going on the other 364 days of the year too.
