what to do on #BellLetsTalk day

Look, I hate criticizing the work of a large group of concerned people who are trying to confront an issue that our society would prefer to ignore. @Bell_LetsTalk is an important campaign that has been a beacon for the millions of Canadians who have faced mental health concerns. Depression and anxiety are out in the open now. It's not an easy conversation to have yet, but at least we can talk about it. I've started talking about it, and I have earlier versions of this campaign to thank.

There is not a day that's gone by that I haven't second guessed my negative post about the #BellLetsTalk campaign. Isn't acknowledgement of mental health enough for me? The money that's fundraised, the attention that's drawn, how can this be a bad thing? All the public figures sharing their stories, revealing real pain and suffering? It all helps. 

But then I think about how many Canadians are seeing all those billboards and OOH ads, and the hundreds of thousands of people who are being encouraged to think of depression as sadness, thanks to those brutal emojis. All the people who will continue to think that if someone is depressed, they just need to cheer up or get over it. The cliché that's being reinforced of people just needing to smile, and think of all that's good in their lives. The stupidly facile solution to a deeply troubling and troubled medical condition.

To see it as a part of this campaign is simply devastating and astonishingly wrong-headed.

Because as I said in that previous post, I simply don't understand how such an important campaign can go so wrong. 

So that's why I'll be tweeting #BellLetsTalk tomorrow. But that's why I'll be linking to this post every time I do it.