CMHA P.E.I. receives funding to support local program

The P.E.I. chapter of the Canadian Mental Health Association has received a grant from the Bell Let's Talk Community Fund to support its suicide awareness and response program.

In a Jan. 24 release, the association said the $25,000 grant will help deliver the Ask, Care, Talk, Tell (ACTT) for Life program, offered to Grade 9 students across P.E.I.

The ACTT for Life program replaced the Signals of Suicide program, which was offered in schools for more than two decades.

The association said the ACTT program is meant to provide youth with knowledge, skills and tools to manage mental health struggles and suicide individually and among their peers.

The program offers a 90-minute workshop with discussions, activities and a four-part video series that aims to increase mental health literacy while promoting help-offering and help-seeking among youth.

“The ACTT for Life program is very well co-ordinated,” said Kinkora Regional High School School counsellor Jessica McCarthy.

“The ACTT facilitators are well-trained and guide our school, so we can safely have these important conversations with youth at a time when they need to know about mental health and suicide.”

McCarthy noted several students reach out through the program each year about mental health concerns.

"Sometimes it's about their own personal mental health struggles, or they have concerns about a friend or family member," said McCarthy.

“With the grant from the Bell Let's Talk Community Fund to support our program, it's great to be able to help our students make good decisions for themselves and their friends."

On Jan. 26, Bell will donate five cents to Canadian mental health program for text, local or long-distance calls, tweets or TikTok video using #BellLetsTalk. Bell will also donate for every Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube view of the Bell Let's Talk Day video and every use of the Bell Let's Talk Facebook frame or Snapchat lens.