Cable / Telecom News

With $5 million, Bell Let’s Talk to fund five organizations supporting youth, families and communities during Covid-19 crisis


MONTREAL – Part of a $5 million increase in Bell Let’s Talk funding in response to Covid-19, Bell Let’s Talk today announced a special program to support five organizations delivering mental health support to kids and families with remote tools in a time of social distancing.

The five organizations are the Canadian Red Cross, Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), Kids Help Phone, Revivre and Strongest Families Institute and the aid will help them enhance their efforts to support Canadians confronting isolation, anxiety and other challenges during the crisis.

“The biggest public health crisis in a lifetime, Covid-19 demands an unprecedented response across every part of Canadian society, including finding new ways to accelerate the delivery of mental health services in such a challenging time,” said Mirko Bibic, president and CEO of Bell Canada. “We’ve increased Bell Let’s Talk funding by $5 million in direct response to the Covid-19 crisis.”

The Red Cross is providing mental health and psychosocial support by phone, including referrals for available specialized care, and working with other first responders to support those in self isolation.

CMHA, with its regional and local branches that are on the front line of community mental health care, is working to adapt programming and services to virtual settings and to scale up existing virtual programs nationally.

Revivre is dedicated to helping people throughout Québec regain control over their mental health, and is implementing new strategies for virtual support programs for anxiety and depression.

Kids Help Phone is ramping up the capacity of its Crisis Text Line powered by Kids Help Phone, including recruiting and training responders, and developing new COVID-specific digital content for youth and parents.

Strongest Families Institute is building out technological and human resources capacity to meet growing demand for its services, including hiring and training more coaches and launching a secure mobile connection to increase connectivity with clients.

“These organizations are all leaders in their fields with effective, evidence-based programming that is already making a difference for Canadians. As the COVID-19 crisis continues, they are all well placed to meet the growing demand from Canadians everywhere for mental health support,” said Mary Deacon, chair of Bell Let’s Talk, in the press release. “We are proud to help ensure the Red Cross, CMHA, Kids Help Phone, Revivre and Strongest Families Institute have added capacity in place to deliver their vital services as we all face the challenges of Covid-19.”

www.Bell.ca/LetsTalk