Bell Let’s Talk; Charting a New Course for Mental Wellness in Caribbean Communities

Another January brings another Bell Let’s Talk Day, a national campaign that has become synonymous with raising mental health awareness across Canada. This year, as we are encouraged to take a moment for mental health on January 21st, the conversation must deepen, moving beyond awareness toward structural change, particularly for Caribbean and Black communities in Toronto and beyond. While corporate initiatives like Bell Let’s Talk play a role, their true impact continues to be measured by their ability to dismantle the systemic barriers that disproportionately affect our communities’ well-being.

In a recent discussion with Mary Deacon, the Chair of Bell Let’s Talk, I sought to understand how the campaign is addressing the persistent disparities in mental health access and outcomes for Black and Caribbean populations. Data from the Mental Health Commission of Canada reveals a stark reality: only 38.3% of Black Canadians with poor, or fair self-reported mental health have used mental health services, compared to 50.8% of their White counterparts. This is a reflection of a system that is not designed with us in mind.

Deacon acknowledged these gaps, emphasizing Bell Let’s Talk’s commitment to “Partnering with organizations that provide culturally informed mental health supports.” She highlighted the Bell Let’s Talk, Community Mental Health Fund, which invests in community-led programs that “Reduce stigma, expand access to care, and deliver services rooted in cultural identity and lived experience.” This approach is critical. For too long, mental health services have been delivered through a one-size-fits-all model that fails to account for the unique cultural contexts and lived realities of our communities.

However, the scale of the challenge requires us to look beyond individual programs and partnerships. The mental health crisis in our communities is a quiet one, fuelled by the slow-burning violence of systemic racism, xenophobia, and economic precarity. Research has consistently shown that anti-Black racism is a social issue and a significant determinant of health, leading to higher rates of psychological distress, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. These are the physiological and psychological consequences of navigating a world that is often hostile to our very existence.

When asked how Bell Let’s Talk is shaping its strategy to address these structural barriers beyond awareness, Deacon pointed to the importance of “Working alongside community organizations to expand services that are culturally safe, responsive, and rooted in lived experience.” Critically, Deacon emphasized that Bell Let’s Talk is supporting models of care informed by culture, identity, language, and local knowledge, recognizing that mental health strategies are most effective when they are community-designed and community-delivered. Beyond funding alone, the organization is investing in capacity building through training, peer support infrastructure, and programs that strengthen long-term access to services tailored for Black, Indigenous, newcomer, and other communities facing barriers to care.

She mentioned partnerships with organizations like The African Centre for Refugees in Ontario-Canada, Cliffcrest Community Centre, Afiwi Groove School, Eva’s Initiatives for Homeless Youth, Britannia Woods Community House, Social Planning Council of Ottawa, and Upstream Ottawa Mental Health Community Support, among others, which are doing vital, on-the-ground work. This dual approach of supporting both grassroots organizations and larger institutions like Kids Help Phone, with its RiseUp program for Black youth, is a step in the right direction.

Yet, the data tells a more complex story, that there is more work to be done. A 2025 study on Black adolescents in Ontario found that while Black males with low distress were more likely to seek help than their White peers, they became significantly less likely to do so as their distress worsened. Black females, meanwhile, faced disparities at all distress levels. This suggests that even when services are available, there are deep-seated issues of trust and accessibility that prevent our youth from getting the help they need, when they need it most.

The conversation around mental health in our communities should therefore be a multifaceted one. We should continue to support and celebrate initiatives like Bell Let’s Talk that are making a tangible difference within our communities. We should also be unflinching in our critique and acknowledgement of the structural and institutional forces that make such initiatives necessary in the first place. The social determinants of health, like: income, housing, education, and employment, are inextricably linked to mental well-being.

As we look ahead, the challenge is to move beyond talk and toward transformative action. This means advocating for policies, programs, and the distribution of resources that: address and combat systemic racism, improve our mental health, well-being and quality of life to achieve healthy and successful aging. This means continued investing in community-led and population-focused solutions that are culturally grounded and built on trust and transparency, while holding corporations, institutions and other actors accountable.

This Bell Let’s Talk Day, let’s take a moment for awareness, and the imperative for a collective commitment to building a future where mental wellness is a right, not a privilege, for every member of our communities.