TORONTO – Family Channel kicked off Bullying Awareness Week with the launch of Stand UP!, a new year-round campaign dedicated to promoting kids’ mental health and wellness, in partnership with PREVNet, Kids Help Phone, Recess Guardians, Jack.org, Telus Wise and others.
Beginning with Bullying Awareness Week, November 17-23, Family will be donating broadcast media space for PSAs to Kids Help Phone and Recess Guardians. The channel will also be feature special messages from its stars, such as Alexandra Chaves (The Next Step), Kamaia Fairburn (Holly Hobbie), Alec Dahmer (Bajillionaires) and others on Family social media channels. Additional on-air and social media campaigns will continue throughout the year.
Family is also launching the Stand UP! Spotlight program, inviting viewers to nominate an important person in their life who has made a positive impact on their emotional wellbeing through kindness. Beginning November 17, viewers are invited to visit family.ca/StandUP, where they can submit a video describing their relationship with the nominee and why that person is important to them. Family will select three to ‘shine the spotlight’ on by featuring their stories on the network during Mental Health Week in May 2020.
“Bullying awareness remains as important an issue today as it did when we co-founded Bullying Awareness Week and launched the first Stand UP! anti-bullying campaign in 2003,” said Joe Tedesco, EVP and general manager, WildBrain Television, Family’s owner. “We know how important positive relationships are to a child’s healthy mental development, and as a national broadcaster with the capacity to speak to youth and families across Canada, we want to reinforce this message year-round, not just during Bullying Awareness Week.”
