Bell Canada hopes to get the country talking today, in the first major campaign of a five-year, $50 million initiative aimed at increasing awareness of mental health issues.

As part of its "Let's Talk Day" event, for every text message and long-distance call made by its customers on Wednesday, Bell is contributing 5 cents to mental health programs.

Beyond raising money, the company hopes to foster a national discussion on what has traditionally been a taboo subject.

Although an estimated one in five Canadians will experience some form of mental health illness in their lifetime -- from depression and bipolar disorders to substance or gambling addictions -- only one-third of those who need help will get it.

Dr. Goldbloom of the Centre for Mental Health and Addiction in Toronto says there are a number of barriers to treatment, not least of which is people not understanding exactly what they're going through.

"And if they do know, there's a lot of shame, embarrassment and a lot of stigma," Goldbloom told CTV's Canada AM, noting that people who do overcome those difficulties and decide to seek help can have a hard time finding it.

"It's a kind of perfect storm of ignorance, embarrassment, uncertainty and difficulty with access," he said.

According to the campaign's chief spokesperson, six-time Olympic medallist Clara Hughes says her personal experience proves that simply getting a conversation going can be a first step to recovery.

In an interview with Canada AM, Hughes recalled suffering her first bout of depression after competing in the Olympics for the first time.

"From that time I actually went into a really dark place," she said, describing the so-called post-Olympic letdown that plagues many athletes struggling to cope with regular life in the wake of Olympic glory.

"It started with just feeling bad everyday. Those days turned to weeks, then turned to months when I was crying everyday and sleeping so much and not knowing what was wrong with me."

Hughes said she didn't know where to turn until a team doctor broached the subject.

"Having somebody open up that dialogue for me made all the difference."

Sports broadcaster Michael Landsberg, who has waged his own battle with depression, notes that most Canadians lack the support system enjoyed as a member of the Olympic team.

The average Canadian, Landsberg said, has to realize, "It's the kind of illness that nobody else can do it for you."

"What you see externally is not necessarily what you see internally," Landsberg added, explaining that someone suffering mental illness may not appear unwell.

"Even through the darkest period for me... I still continued to host a television show," he said, noting that viewers who have since learned he was depressed have been amazed.

"You've got to really look inside and ask yourself questions. You owe it to yourself."

Liberal MP Bob Rae, a former Ontario premier, suffered from depression in his mid-20s, while he was attending Oxford University.

"Because it's a secret, because it's a stigma, there's an awful lot of people who don't come forward when they're experiencing it and don't reach out for help," he told CTV's Power Play Wednesday. "So we are losing a lot of people as everyone knows.

"It's important for us to talk about."

But Rae thinks that more people are opening up about mental health issues.

"I think the days of stigma are ending, I think what we need to do is figure out how to get the federal government and the provinces really engaged in how we can help people," he said.

The chair of the Bell Mental Health Initiative, Mary Deacon, hopes the campaign will reduce the stigma that is preventing those who suspect they need help from seeking it out.

"Bell feels that it is the place, arguably, where it can have the biggest impact by using the strength of the Bell brand to elevate the frequency and volume of the discussion across Canada," Deacon said of the country's largest-ever corporate commitment to mental health research and services.

Margaret Trudeau says she's fought mental illness for the better part of 40 years, but only reclaimed her brain health after taking charge of herself.

"It was up to me to want to choose sanity, to want to be well, to want to be art of life instead of on the outside looking in and so I had to understand that it was my battle and I'd have all the help and support to win it, but it was mine," she said in an interview from Montreal.

Landsberg also had some advice for anyone in a position to offer support, suggesting there are two things one should never say to a person who reveals they may be mentally ill: 'What do you have to be depressed about?', and 'Snap out of it'."

"Believe me, we'd snap out of it if we could," he said.

When Bell announced the initiative last September, the company pledged to direct its prime "community investment" focus, as well as the majority of its charitable spending, to the promotion and support of mental health issues and support programs across Canada.

Over the course of the five-year campaign, Bell aims to:

  • reduce the stigma still associated with mental illness
  • support new research
  • improve access to mental health care
  • develop mental health best practices for the workplace

Mental illness is the top cause of workplace disability in Canada, accounting for 30 per cent of disability claims and 70 per cent of disability costs.

As many as 500,000 Canadians miss work everyday because of issues with their mental health, costing the economy as much as $51 billion in health care and lost productivity.

Bell is a subsidiary of BCE Inc., which is currently in the process of a $1.3 billion purchase of CTV.