A new record for Bell Let's Talk Day.
Yesterday's event set all-new records as the world's biggest ever conversation about mental health.
"On behalf of everyone on the Bell Let's Talk team, thank you Canada for showing the way in taking mental health forward – like never before! The growing engagement by Canadians in Bell Let's Talk Day shows that together we're changing attitudes and truly reducing the stigma around mental illness. It's the key to making progress in a critical national health concern," said Mary Deacon, Chair of Bell Let's Talk.
From midnight in St. John's to midnight in Victoria on January 31, people in Canada and around the world sent 138,383,995 total messages of support – up over 5% over Bell Let's Talk Day 2017. Bell donates 5 cents for each of the following interactions on Bell Let's Talk Day at no extra charge to participants: all texts, mobile calls and long distance calls by Bell customers; tweets using #BellLetsTalk; use of the Bell Let's Talk Facebook frame or Snapchat filter; and views of the Bell Let's Talk video on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. The total level of engagement means Bell will invest another $6,919,199.75 in mental health programs.
Social media engagement grew fastest again with total interactions hitting 24,302,727 – an increase of more than 10% from last year. Already Canada's most-used Twitter hashtag ever, #BellLetsTalk was the top Twitter trend in the world again this year.
As part of this year's campaign, 130 Canadian universities and colleges hosted more than 200 events including varsity and collegiate games to raise awareness of campus mental health – another clear sign of the growing engagement and leadership of Canadian youth in the cause.
Based on the level of engagement, Bell's donation of $6,919,199.75 brings the total Bell Let's Talk commitment to $93,423,628.80 so far.