It’s Bell Let’s Talk Day, which means your feed is about to be flooded with infographic reposts with the #BellLetsTalk in the largest text.

Over the last 12 years, Bell has partnered with more than 1,300 organizations that provide mental health support and services throughout Canada. Bell will donate five cents for every call or text message by a Bell customer, and every time #BellLetsTalk is used on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Pinterest, Linkedin and TikTok.

Sounds great right?

Last year, the day after Bell Lets Talk day, Bell Media laid off hundreds of employees. The majority of employees received little to no notice and were left jobless in the midst of a pandemic.

This sudden “programming change,” caused many Canadian to call bluff on their mental health campaign.

https://twitter.com/Bomber_Reaper/status/1486385476634353668?s=20

As you know, I’m a big advocate for mental health.
After careful consideration, I’ve decided NOT to participate in @Bell_LetsTalk day, I cannot support Bell & there are other ways to support mental health that I will keep doing. I will, however, encourage you to RT this instead pic.twitter.com/JwVqRHv4Aq

— x-JB (@JackieBee_16) January 26, 2022

It’s a touchy subject because on the other hand there are Canadians who are super passionate about mental health destigmatization and see Bell Lets Talk as a tool to advocate for their beliefs. It doesn’t seem fair to tell someone off for sharing their mental health journey under the BellLetsTalk hashtag.

Even before the recent scandals, I was never a #BellLetsTalk reposter, the first red flag to me was the word Bell. What does Bell Media have to do with mental health? I’ve always seen the ‘movement’ as a marketing campaign. I’d never want to invalidate someone’s mental health story, however, I just don’t think Bell should profit off of you opening up to the world about your journey. Pre-mass lay off, pre-pandemic, It seemed twisted to me that someone’s vulnerability can be turned into an advertisement for a multi-million dollar company.

I guess my philosophy here is, I’d happily donate over 5 cents to a mental health charity before reposting.

I’m not here to entirely bash Bell Media, at least not for 1000 words. Rather, I want to talk about mental health without promoting a multi-million dollar empire. Because we can do that? Right?

First off, it should be every day. I understand it’s a reminder, to take a deep breath and talk to a family member or friend about mental health. However, I think when we put mental health as lightly as “It’s okay to not be okay.” it waters down an issue that’s deeper “than taking a breath.” It’s a privileged way of putting things that can be read as very cliché and out of touch.

Yes, communication and air do help but for many, mental health isn’t that pretty. I remember at my lowest point, I would hear things like, “go on a walk,” or “take time away from your phone.” Both can be great tools to stay present and mindful, however, for me, where my brain was at, I needed more than a walk in the park, double entendre, boom.

But Ii the shoe fits, the shoe fits. Do what feels right for you and what works for you. In my journey with mental health, I’ve found that wellness culture advertises this pretty version of mental illness. Sometimes, your family isn’t a resource you can reach out and communicate with. For me, I needed a team of professionals to support my journey, and that’s really uncomfortable for me to admit. It brings up a lot of questions in others when you open up about the not-so-pretty aspects of mental health.

The generic ‘drink more water’ style advice, at times made me feel worse about myself because I needed more help than a phone call with a loved one. I understand everyone’s going to be different, I’m just trying to paint the picture here that this:

Today's forecast is calling for showers of conversation – let's dance in the rain together while we tweet, tweet, tweet! #BellLetsTalk

— Bell Let's Talk (@Bell_LetsTalk) January 26, 2022

can feel patronizing.

We need to engage with mental health on a systemic and political level, rather than treating it as an individual problem. It’s ironic that the mental health crisis we are facing in the 21st century is largely linked to the newly coined term ‘internalized capitalism,’ referring to our self-worth being directly linked to our productivity and the increasing inequality in society.

Governments and pharmaceutical companies are infamous for throwing money into researching genetics and physical-biological markers as opposed to the environmental causes of the mental health crisis we are facing. With suicide being among the leading causes of death in Canada, you’d think mental health initiatives would be more of a conversation in politics and elections. But, alas, it’s easier to make it an individual’s problem rather than an issue of society, and the cyclical patterns of our internalized capitalism.

I sound hopeless, but I’m not. I think therapy, open conversations and even the perceived devil – social media, are helping to destigmatize mental illness. I just think it’s wildly ironic that Bell Media thinks they can fix mental illness when they are a key player in spinning the wheel that creates it.

“We live in a social and economic system at odds with both our psychology and our neurology, with who we are as social beings.”

(Rod Tweedy, The Political Self: Understanding the Social Context for Mental Illness)

Therapy can help you separate yourself from your problems. A good therapist can help you separate your mental health from your lifestyle. Yes, they’re connected and can assist each other, but you can’t let the productivity-rise-and-grind culture define your self-worth. Don’t blame yourself for not being able to conform to a near-impossible standard. There’s a reason everyone’s in therapy; none of us fit that mould.

Mental health is hard to talk about because we are all so different. Not only do we all suffer differently, but we all also cope differently. Bell’s “it’s okay to not be okay,” is such a shallow answer to deep questions that I believe we are all facing, one way or another. There are tons of resources out there that can tailor to individual needs. I’ve opened up in this article, more than I’m normally comfortable with and I’m hoping this can continue a conversation and help others feel better about opening up

We can do this without Bell Media guys.