Your Support

The past three days I have written about mental illnesses. While we all know someone struggling in one way or another, we all have wondered what we can do to help. In some cases it’s as simple as leaving that person alone to fight their battle the best way they know how. Sometimes something needs to be done. It could be an encouraging word, it could be a homemade meal, a hug, a talk, or a good laugh or a good run.

Sometimes they will require more help than we can give. But we can still give. The ice bucket challenge to raise awareness of ALS also raised millions of dollars. Those millions of dollars were put forth into research to develop better treatments and hunt for the elusive cure. While there hasn’t been a viral charitable event for mental illnesses there are still some very successful ones.

Bell Aliant’s “Let’s Talk” initiative encourages people to text and tweet in order to raise money. Bell has committed over $73.6 million to support a wide range of mental health organizations, large and small, from coast to coast to coast. The money Bell donates gets used as grant money to any mental health charity who seeks their support. According to their web page their four pillars are Anti-stigma, Care and Access, Workplace Health, and Research.

There is also the CMHA (Canadian Mental Health Association). Their website states:

Your gift supports the Canadian Mental Health Association in its mission to promote mental health and help those with mental illnesses, while keeping our costs low. As the nation-wide leader and champion for mental health, CMHA facilitates access to the resources people require to maintain and improve mental health and community integration, build resilience, and support recovery from mental illness.

These two charities are Canadian based. A quick google search will deliver more local results for you.

Can we save the whole world? I don’t know, but it would mean the world to the to those who receive the help they need.