‘Walk So Kids Can Talk’ event raises nearly $4 million nationwide

The BMO Walk So Kids Can Talk event in support of Kids Help Phone was held Sunday at London's Springbank Park.

Kids Help Phone (KHP) is reporting a 43 per cent increase in suicide related interactions among children aged 12 and under in 2025 compared to the previous year.

They add KHP interacted with youth more than 3.7 million times via phone, text, social media and digital resources across the country.

Sunday morning at Springbank Gardens in London, dozens of people gathered for the annual BMO ‘Walk so Kids Can Talk’ event.

“It’s really about creating awareness,” said Kristen Larionov, regional vice president of the London Woodstock Brantford market for BMO, the presenting sponsor.

“It’s about breaking the stigma when it comes to mental health and supporting our youth. It’s available 24/7 and we need to create the awareness, so they [youth] know when to turn, where to turn, when they need it,” she explained.

As Canada gets set for Mental Health Awareness Week from May 4 to10, KHP’s walks across the country helped raise nearly raise $4 million and more than $60,000 locally to support youth mental health.

“We are the only national network that is free 24/7 available in over 100 languages for children in no matter where they are in life,” said Katherine Maddox, director of annual giving and operations at KHP.

“Today is incredible that we can come together across 16 sites and raise such vital funds to support children from coast to coast,” she added.

Funds raised will go toward supporting mental heath services online and other programs such as counsellors in classrooms.