Let's Face This Campaign Launches to Confront Mental Illness

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre today launched Let’s Face This – Confront the Stigma of Mental Illness, an innovative web-based initiative to address the growing public health issue. Psychiatrists at Sunnybrook now estimate that mental illness personally affects more than 10 million Canadians.

Developed in partnership with Manulife Financial, the campaign website, letsfacethis.ca, offers visitors the opportunity to post their photo and message on a virtual campaign tree. With each new photo added, the tree will grow, symbolizing growing awareness, education, fundraising and hope for those suffering from a mental illness.

“Even with all the knowledge available today, mental illness is still a very difficult topic for the majority of people to discuss,” said Dr. Anthony Levitt, Chief of Psychiatry at Sunnybrook. “Let’s Face This will help us to work together to confront the stigma surrounding mental illness. And just as importantly, it will help raise much needed funds for research that will lead to finding the causes of mental illness and developing new treatments.”

A grassroots campaign designed to help raise awareness, education and funds for mental health research, the campaign coincides with Mental Illness Awareness Week, taking place from October 5 – 11. In addition to the website, teams of photographers will hit the streets of Toronto, collecting photos and messages and providing information about mental illness. There will also be promotional activities with local community associations and on online social media such as Facebook.

“Manulife Financial is proud to partner with Sunnybrook on this campaign to help educate Canadians about mental illness and reduce the stigma associated with it,” says Paul Rooney, President & CEO, Manulife Canada. “And by making a donation, individuals can support world-class mental health research that offers hope for better understanding of mental illness and the development of new treatments.”