Every day in Canada, half a million people miss work for mental health-related reasons. Eight per cent of Canadians will experience major depression at some point in their lives, and 20 per cent of Canadians will personally experience a form of mental illness during their lifetime.
And sadly, too few people feel comfortable talking about mental illness and the effect it has on their lives.
On "Bell Let's Talk Day", the goal is to change all that through education, advocacy and transparency. As part of the campaign, Bell is donating five cents for every long-distance call and text message sent on the Bell network today. And the company will also donate five cents for every tweet that includes the hashtag #BellLetsTalk.
Beginning at 7 a.m., CTVNews.ca is hosting an all-day live chat with experts, counsellors and front-line workers in the mental health field who can discuss the issues, their own experiences and where to find help. Join the conversation here.
CTV's Canada AM also has extensive coverage on the topic of mental health, with a number of guests, including TSN's Michael Landsberg, who fought his own battle with depression. Watch the show or find the individual segments here.
Throughout the day, CTV News Channel will also be covering the important issue with a focus on how youth are affected by mental illness. If you miss the broadcast, you can catch up with the video clips here.
As part of the effort to eliminate the stigma associated with mental illness and to encourage people to discuss the issue, CTV's partner networks CP24, TSN, eTalk, MuchMusic, and MTV are also joining the cause with a day of original programming.
Bell is the parent company of CTV News.
