Content item
Keep talking, keep listening and keep hope is the theme of a virtual event being held by eight Canadian Mental Health Association Ontario branches on Jan 26.
Content item
The event coincides with Bell Let’s Talk Day and includes morning and afternoon sessions.
“Almost two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s vitally important that we take care of our mental health,” said Lill Petrella, of the CMHA’s Brant Haldimand Norfolk branch. “On-again, off-again lockdowns, job uncertainty, economic unrest and ongoing concerns about physical health and the state of the health-care system simply add to the stress and anxiety of everyday life.”
The local branch is participating in the sessions featuring guests talking about how to keep “hope” in conversations about mental health.
Links to the Zoom sessions will be posted on the branch’s website at www.bhn.cmha.ca on Jan. 24.
The morning session, from 9:30 am to 10:30 am, will include a youth mental health worker, a health equity consultant, a diversity and mental health volunteer and a Two-Spirit outreach worker.
The evening session, from 7 pm to 8:30 pm, features Imam Abu Noman Tarek, of the Brantford Mosque, a Mohawk College health, wellness and fitness professor, a retired workplace wellness promoter, a community youth leader, a social equity activist and a physician.
Petrella said that, since 2010, Canadians have joined people around the globe in the world’s largest conversation around mental health on Bell Let’s Talk Day.
“Together, we have taken big steps to reduce the stigma around mental health issues and inspire one another to take action and help create a Canada where everyone can access the mental health support they need.”
She said that a recent survey conducted by Nielsen Consumer Insights found that 82 per cent of Canadians now say they are omfortable speaking with others about mental health, up from 42 per cent in 2012.
To learn more about Bell Let’s Talk Day, visit www.letstalk.bell.ca/en/students-digital-toolkit.
twitter.com/EXPVBall