BMO Commits $15 Million in Support of Kids Help Phone to Make Progress on Youth Mental Health Services in Canada

• Comprehensive investment will support new movement, Feel Out Loud, and will help close mental health equity gap for youth in Canada.

TORONTO, March 2, 2023 /CNW/ - BMO is committing $15 million to Kids Help Phone to expand mental health supports for youth across Canada.

This comprehensive investment is in support of Kids Help Phone's new Feel Out Loud movement, which aims to expand clinical services across the country through its e-mental health services and to close the mental health equity gap for youth in Canada by creating programs and services where equity-deserving communities can feel seen, heard, and safe.

Kids Help Phone provides vital support to Canada's youth, and remains Canada's only free, confidential, 24/7, multilingual e-mental health service dedicated to youth. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Kids Help Phone has interacted with young people 14 million times, evidence the mental health support Kids Help Phone provides remains crucial.

"Young people are acutely affected by mental health challenges but are often the least prepared to deal with them – by supporting Kids Help Phone to address the mental-health crisis facing today's youth, we're investing in our collective future," said Darryl White, Chief Executive Officer, BMO Financial Group and Honourary Co-Chair, Kids Help Phone. "BMO's purpose to Boldly Grow the Good in business and life is focused on driving progress for an inclusive society and Feel Out Loud is committed to reshaping and strengthening Canada's youth mental health ecosystem by actively removing barriers to inclusion. We've stood alongside Kids Help Phone since the very beginning, and we remain steadfast in our commitment to ensure Kids Help Phone will be there 24/7 for generations of children to come."

BMO is dedicated to supporting and growing access to mental health services in Canada

• As a founding partner, BMO helped establish Kids Help Phone in 1989. Since then, BMO and its employees have raised over $40 million for Kids Help Phone.
• BMO offers employees comprehensive, 24/7 counselling through LifeWorks, BMO's Employee Assistance program. Moreover, BMO has recently partnered with Headspace, to help BMO employees and their families build healthy habits around mindfulness and mediation.
• BMO has made substantial donations to many organizations supporting access to mental health resources in Canada, including CAMH, CMHA, Thresholds, and Jack.org.

About BMO Financial Group:

Serving customers for 200 years and counting, BMO is a highly diversified financial services provider - the 8th largest bank, by assets, in North America. With total assets of $1.15 trillion as of January 31, 2023, and a team of diverse and highly engaged employees, BMO provides a broad range of personal and commercial banking, wealth management and investment banking products and services to 12 million customers and conducts business through three operating groups: Personal and Commercial Banking, BMO Wealth Management and BMO Capital Markets.

About Kids Help Phone:

Kids Help Phone is Canada's only 24/7 national, e-mental health service offering free, confidential, multilingual support to young people. As the country's virtual care expert, we give millions of youth a safe, trusted space to talk over phone or through text or in self-directed supports in any moment of crisis or need. Through our digital transformation, we envision a future where every person in Canada is able to feel out loud and get the support they need, when they need it most. Kids Help Phone gratefully relies on the generosity of donors, volunteers, stakeholder partners, corporate partners and governments to fuel and fund our programs. Learn more at KidsHelpPhone.ca.

SOURCE BMO Financial Group

For News Media Inquiries, Contact: BMO - Kate Simandl, Toronto, [email protected]; Kids Help Phone - Kait Ward, Toronto [email protected], Lindsey Coulter, Toronto, [email protected]