How BMO employees are mobilizing to support youth mental health
In recent years, the world has seen a dramatic rise in mental health challenges among youth. In fact, young people aged 15-24 are more likely to experience mental illness and/or substance abuse than any other age group.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month in the U.S. At BMO, we’re harnessing our industry-leading culture of employee giving to help boost support for youth mental health, raise awareness of critical services that fill gaps in care, and get support to youth – whenever and wherever they need it.
Every year, 17 per cent of U.S. youth aged 6-17 experience a mental health disorder*. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people aged 10-24**, and lesbian, gay and bisexual youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide***.
BMO has long made it a priority to raise critical funds to support mental health. In the past decade, we’ve donated $23 million to enable access to mental health care programming across demographics, and to help fund infrastructure and cutting-edge, lifesaving research across the United States and Canada.
National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) Helpline
The NAMI Teen & Young Adult (T&YA) Helpline is a free, nationwide teen and young adult peer-support service providing information, resource referrals, and support to teens and young adults who have a mental health condition or are going through a difficult time in their life. Only half of the youth with a mental health disorder receive treatment, and 60 per cent of U.S. counties do not have a practicing psychiatrist – which means NAMI’s work is essential to helping kids across the country.
BMO is mobilizing U.S. employees across the country to support NAMI’s helpline through fundraising and donations. We’re encouraging employees to create personal fundraising pages and participate in NAMIWalks events, scheduled in May in many of BMO’s larger markets, including LA, San Francisco, Denver and Omaha (as well as other markets throughout the year).
BMO’s support for mental health is directly tied to our Purpose to Boldly Grow the Good in business and life. It’s vital to an inclusive society and thriving economy – and as a forward-looking, future-ready bank, we know that supporting younger generations is one of the most important things we can do.
*[Whitney 2019; Data from 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health]
** [NIMH]
*** [CDC Youth Risk and Behavior Survey Trend Report, 2011-2021]
