How does talking about mental health make a difference? It’s a deceptively simple question, and there is no single answer.
We spoke to staff, volunteers, clients, and families in the weeks leading up to the tenth anniversary of Bell Let’s Talk Day and asked them to share their thoughts about why it’s important to talk about mental health.
Let’s keep the conversation going, today, and every day.
View the full video below, or scroll down for the full transcript.
For me personally, I think talking about mental health makes a difference because it really lets people know that they're not alone. Life gets hard and sometimes we don't often control the situations or circumstances that we're in, but we can, however, choose what we decide to do about it. The easiest way to start that journey is by talking about it.
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I think when you want to take the step to disclose that you have a mental illness there's a vulnerability that comes with that and the fear of judgment, the fear of that negative effects you're going to have from that disclosure, and I think that getting past that – taking that – that's always seemed to work well for me.
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As a mom, I think it's important to have the frank conversations with your children, because chances are they're having them without you knowing and they may not feel safe enough or they may be scared to talk to you. I think if you open that conversation, you connect on a different level with your kids and sometimes their friends who may not have those relationships at home.
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There is already a lot of pain and anguish that comes from dealing with mental health issues, and so it sure would be nice not to be judged for it. As well, to feel free to speak about it and have a common sense of a goal that we all want to be part of the same thing, which is to experience joy and contentment.
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When I think about why it's important to talk about mental health, I kind of think about what happens in our minds when we don't – when we don't open up and talk about things that we’re worrying about and that we're concerned about, those things in the echo chamber of our minds can then become scary and overwhelming and can actually begin to feel like they’re unspeakable. So bravely reaching out and leaning in, and trusting someone by sharing what's going on in your mind and in your heart, that gives you the power back.
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I think when you have problems, they're bumping inside your head like little monsters that are growing and growing, and once you get them out of your mouth all of a sudden they become… it's like a perception check. They’re not so big, they're not so scary.
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I've been working at The Royal for 17 years and my role is a Peer Specialist. I find sharing my story sometimes with clients is a real benefit for them, so they can relate, and see that there's hope.
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I think talking about mental health matters for a lot of reasons. I think some of the most important ones is that our brains are these fabulous machines that love to retain information, and when we're retaining that information, we also want to process and we want to figure things out. So part of talking about it allows our brain a bit of a break. When I tell you about something, my brain no longer has this need to hang on to that information as tightly.
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Talking about mental health makes a difference for a couple of different reasons but most importantly I think it starts a conversation. It helps people ask for help and get help, it makes it okay to talk about, and talking supports people; talking saves lives; talking makes a difference.
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I mean, I remember the first time that I talked openly. I wrote my story for the Clients’ Voice newsletter at The Royal and it was pretty scary, but you know, getting the strength to really talk out there about it was very freeing for me.
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I think talking about mental health is important right now specifically because with social media it has never been so easy to contact so many different people. Everybody has such a wide network of friends and acquaintances. You could find out what someone ate for lunch on the other side of the world, or you can find out who got married from your first year of university or elementary school, but you can have really close friends and family who are struggling with mental health issues, and that's because the talk, the conversations haven't yet normalized. So I think that bringing those discussions to the forefront and normalizing those conversations with friends and family reminds us of what being human is all about and what connections are.
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There's been a lot of good progress in the last few years to try to bring down the stigma, to not make it an issue that we should keep quiet or secret, so there's been a lot of good advancement in that direction, but I don't think the work is over. Mental health – some people consider it the biggest challenge of the 21st century. We're getting a lot better at other all sorts of other illnesses and physical ailments but mental health continues to be an ongoing challenge and I think as we continue to talk about it, we need to – It helps us to start to really think about individually what we can do ourselves to encourage and foster good mental health in our own personal lives. Sometimes we have the tendency to take care of our bodies, to take care of our teeth, to take care of all sorts of things, but we sometimes forget that our mind needs a bit of maintenance and a bit of care and a bit of nurturing. And so, I think that if we continue to talk about it, then perhaps it become more normal that we look at little things we can do it every day to keep ourselves mentally healthy and live the good life where we're not too bogged down by stress or lower mood, and really try to live as best we can.