In school, it was always the ones you least suspect.
The friends who were out partying all night.
The friends who always appeared to be happy.
The friends you rarely saw without a smile or the friends you did not recognize when they were not laughing.
Those were the ones you never suspected to have a mental illness.
Those were the ones that were usually being beaten by their own fear of how people would react to them.
The ones that considered themselves weak.
The ones who never wanted to appear as if they needed help.
The ones you never wanted to part with for all the world but you did not know they needed help.
Yet, these were the ones who were most at risk of developing or having some form of mental health concerns
Depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts or destructive behavior, you never saw their lively personalities as hiding their true feelings from the world.
According to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, only 50 per cent of Canadians would tell friends or co-workers about their mental illness.
That is where Bell’s Let’s Talk has the most influence.
It gets people talking about mental health
On Jan. 27, people were encouraged to talk, text, or tweet about mental health issues to break the stigmas that are involved.
No one should have to go through any form of mental illness by themselves.
What if we treated physical illness the way mental illness is treated?
Can we think ourselves out of cancer, a broken arm, or bloody lacerations?
We need to change the way we think about mental illness so that every Canadian can feel they can come forward and talk about their mental well-being.
Another statistic from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 1 in 5 Canadians will experience a mental health or addictions concern in a year.
That is a big number of people that are stigmatised for something they cannot control.
With an estimated population of 35,985,751, that is a little over 7 million people who need help but may be too afraid to ask.
If we were looking at 1 in 5 residents of Humboldt, that would mean 1,135 people could have concerns about their mental health or well-being.
No one should have to go through this alone.
We are getting better.
This year, almost 126 million tweets, texts, and calls meant money for mental health initiatives.
More importantly, the conversation was kept going for another year.
For those of you in the 1 in 5 category, please don’t go through this alone.
Talk to someone you trust.
There is always confidential help from great people like PARTNERS ((306) 682-4135), the RCMP, and Humboldt District Health Complex (Mental Health line, (306)-682-5333, Addiction Services line, (306)-682-3249).
There are also counselors, teachers, and the Kids Help Phone ((800)-668-6868).
You are not weak for reaching out.
You deserve help.
