Reflections on a Pandemic

As most of you on social media already know, this past Thursday (January 28th) was the 11th annual Bell Lets Talk Day. Most years, I have enthusiastically shared Bell’s posts, alongside everyone else. But this year I felt uncomfortable doing so, and so I decided to read, reflect, and write instead (which is what I often do, when I feel uncomfortable or unsettled about something). In a recent opinion piece in the Rabble, Andrew McEwan writes: “(Bell) Let's Talk takes up significant room in public discussion of mental illness in Canada, and it's revealing to question the campaign's framing of mental illness, as well as its ties to a capitalist understanding of health. Bell Let's Talk simultaneously individualizes the issue of mental illness and corporatizes the solution.” https://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/views-expressed/2021/01/beyond-wellness-how-bell-lets-talk-limits-our-understanding In the rest of the opinion piece, he shares why he believes this is a bad thing. I rea...