MONTREAL — Bell Canada announced Monday it is extending its Bell Let’s Talk initiative to 2025 and increasing its total funding commitment for mental health to at least $150 million.
The announcement was made at a media event at Montreal’s Graham Boeckh Foundation, where Bell unveiled a $10-million partnership to support integrated youth mental health and wellness services across Canada through Integrated Youth Services (IYS) hubs.
“There is a critical need to make mental health supports more readily available to young people, and the Integrated Youth Services approach is a proven model developed with youth and community involvement from the ground up,” said Mary Deacon, chair of Bell Let’s Talk, in the news release. “We’re pleased to join with the Graham Boeckh Foundation to take action in youth mental health by accelerating the ability for young people to access IYS hubs and get the help they need.”
The IYS model builds youth-focused mental health, addiction and related services based on a defined set of principles: youth and family participation; integration of services; continuity of care from ages 12 to 25; easily accessible points of care; incorporation of online portals and other technologies; stepped care models; and data collection, evaluation and research for continuous improvement.
The Bell Let’s Talk and Graham Boeckh partnership will work to accelerate the launch of new provincial and territorial IYS projects, help develop, evaluate and roll out evidence-based innovations in treatment and care to fill existing gaps, and support collaboration across provincial and territorial projects to build capacity and knowledge sharing, says the news release.
The partnership was launched with a $1-million donation to support Aire ouverte’s existing youth hubs in Laval, Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal and Sept-Îles and four new sites currently in development.
Bell Let’s Talk was launched in 2010 as a five-year initiative with a $50-million donation from Bell. The initiative was extended in 2015 for a further five years, with a target of at least $100 million in total funding for mental health, which includes Bell’s original $50-million donation plus all Bell funding driven by engagement on Bell Let’s Talk Day.
This year, on the 10th anniversary of Bell Let’s Talk Day on January 29, a record 154,387,425 eligible interactions generated $7.7 million in Bell funding. This brought Bell’s total commitment since 2010 to $108.4 million exceeding the $100-million target set in 2015.
“We’ve made great strides over the last 10 years but the need for action in Canadian mental health remains, so we’re taking Bell Let’s Talk further. We are proud to renew our Bell’s Let’s Talk commitment for another 5 years as we set a new target of $150 million in total Bell funding for mental health,” added Mirko Bibic, president and CEO of BCE and Bell Canada, in the release.
