A man holds his head in his hands in a black and white photo.
A man holds his head in his hands in a black and white photo. Credit: Needpix Credit: Needpix

There’s a meme about mental health I often see on social media. Sometimes it’s an aunt sharing it, or perhaps a former business contact. It reads: Your trauma is not your fault, but healing is your responsibility.” I am reminded of how little support we provide those living with mental illnesses like trauma (an actual, diagnosable mental health problem). And sadly, this stigma is particularly pronounced in Canada. 

After all, what other health conditions would inspire the progressive people in my circle to suggest “healing” is their responsibility? Suggesting it was a person’s responsibility to heal their cancer, operate on their own spinal injury, or make their own insulin in a makeshift workshop in their basement would result in immediate cancellation. But mental illness is seen as something altogether different. As someone who lives with three separate mental health diagnoses, I know first-hand that, when you have a problem with your head, people assume it’s all in your head.

On January 21, Bell will hold its annual Let’s Talk Day. And sure, it’s rich for a company that performs mass layoffs with more regularity than most people go to the dentist to sponsor such a campaign. After all, sudden changes in employment are one of the worst things that can happen to one’s mental health.

It’s disheartening that Canada’s highest-profile campaign to normalise – and humanise – mental health struggles is a massive corporation’s attempt to whitewash its sins, and yet, as a Canadian who has been diagnosed with three separate mental illnesses, I am of two minds: I know the conversation about destigmatising mental illness is a conversation people ought to be having. Perhaps even a cynical capitalist clock is right once a day, because the website for this campaign does share some sobering statistics, including the facts that one-in-four Canadians have considered suicide and that one-in-two people in Canada aren’t getting the help they need. 

A contributing factor as to why Canadians aren’t getting mental health support when they need it is the stigma surrounding such issues. A 2022 Leger Survey revealed that 95 per cent of Canadians living with mental illness had experienced stigma in the previous five years. What’s more, 72 per cent of respondents had experienced “serious self-stigma,” making them feel less worthy than other people  – and, one would guess, less like they deserve help, and therefore less likely to advocate for themselves in the world at large. 

Contributing to the stigmatised hellscape in which people with mental illness live is a reprehensible institutional failure: Healthcare systems in Canada do not treat mental health as a priority. Roughly half of Canadians will experience a substance use or mental health issue by Age 40, which makes mental health problems more common than cancer, a devastating disease that has ravaged so many. And yet, mental health care is massively underfunded. For example, spending on this type of care is underfunded to the tune of $1.5 billion in Ontario, and accounts for just seven per cent of healthcare dollars. This contrasts sharply with the 10 per cent to 11 per cent the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health reports is customary in other parts of the world. Canada’s leaders certainly seem to believe that meme I referenced at the top of this piece, suggesting healing is your own “responsibility,” because it’s sure not investing in programs that would help people with the recovery process… 

So, on Bell’s annual Let’s Talk Day, let’s remember that it’s a form of grand-scale corporate whitewashing of the most blatant kind; however, let’s also remember to start our own conversations about mental health – both how to destigmatise mental health problems and how to help those who experience them.